


Everything I do, I do it for you. Both.

by Lunar_Berry



Category: Hat Films - Fandom, The Yogscast
Genre: Abuse, Aromantic, Asexuality, Bisexuality, Crime, Drug Use, Duncan/Kim - Freeform, F/F, F/M, GTAV AU, Guns, Implied Relationships, Implied/Referenced Drug Use, Killing, Kirin/Lying, Leo/Sparkles, Lewis/Hannah - Freeform, M/M, Multi, Parv/Strife - Freeform, Polyamory, Sex, Torture, Zoey/Fiona - Freeform, pansexuality
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-02-10
Updated: 2016-04-21
Packaged: 2018-03-11 13:00:35
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 45,649
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3327743
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lunar_Berry/pseuds/Lunar_Berry
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ross Hornby, the silent assassin, the Unknown Sniper if you need his services, gets a letter from the crime bosses of Los Santos, the Overlookers. What was an easy job turns into a maddening fall of love, hate, and desperation as he tries to save the two people he never thought he could love while simultaneously taking on the crime boss of the city. Could the cold hearted killer that was Ross ever have his heart thawed or has his chilling past destroyed his heart for good?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Heart of Glass

The church tower bell rung loud and clear; the metallic and rhythmic 'bong' that serenaded the unfortunate soul currently being buried 10 feet under signalled to everyone in the area that at least 20 people dressed in black would be blocking the streets for a good half hour. Ross was leant against one of the corners of the tower with a leg dangling down the side languidly, smiling as he watched the people who resembled ants from where he was sat crowded around a chestnut brown varnished coffin. To him, they were pathetic. Trust was a dangerous thing to own: it got you killed and through various mistakes Ross had learnt to only ever trust himself. Reaching down to the wooden balcony as the bell once again murdered his hearing, Ross pulled out his sniper rifle (courtesy of Shrewsbury) and did a quick check on the scope and suppressor: advanced and fitted correctly respectively on both parts. He swung his legs back onto the wooden balcony and set up himself up for another amazing shot of the century. He slowed his breathing and looked through the scope: he found his target easily. A small black haired woman with sunglasses, an absurdly huge hat, and a fitting black dress that only just passed her thighs. Ross smiled as he reached a finger towards the trigger, everything was set up perfectly. All that was left to do now was kill the woman and collect his payment. He watched her for a second longer, the flowers in her hat caught the breeze a little, then she looked up, directly at Ross. Maybe she had seen his reflection in the varnish of the coffin, maybe she had noticed him from the start. It didn't matter.  
Ross pulled the trigger.

  
Her body fell gracefully onto the coffin and various gasps, screams and shouts sounded, and as Ross pulled back over the balcony and began to scale back down the other side, he laughed a little. He remember what the Director had told him about the woman. She was the leader of a competing gang, competing for the control of the under city, the other gangs, ruling and trafficking everything and anything she could. Apparently she killed her own husband once he had clocked onto what she was doing – the coffin belonged to him. It was rather ironic however – her death. Her brains were now plastered against the cold mouldy walls of the dirt that had only just begun to close around her partner and yet they now closed around her too. A not so peaceful death, but when you played with the ringleader of the Overlookers, you mess with every other gang or freelancer in the city.

 

No one had seen the Overlookers take control but everyone had seen what happened when you didn't comply with them; every gang, no matter who they where or what they did, every gang did what the Overlookers wanted. No exception. The Director was just one subcategory for the Overlookers and had a tendency to hire Ross as an assassinator, not because Ross was famous in the under city for his good aim, it was because Ross would get the job done on his own. There had been far too many hiccups with other snipers up until Ross had been hired. As a freelance assassinator Ross prided himself on the fact that no-one knew him but _everyone_ knew him. He had no name in the under city, he was simply the 'Unknown sniper'. He never gave his real name out, always an alias, always a different name with no meaning. If people wanted him, they asked for the Unknown sniper and maybe if they searched hard enough they would find him. As the famous saying goes, 'the walls have ears' and so within a day of being hired by the Overlookers Ross had heard from many different sources with questionable reliabilities that the Director had only started to look for him the same day he found him. The current record for being hired was 1 week and 2 days, well, according to The Professionals that was.

 

Ross jumped down the last few feet then crouch-walked over to the wall of the cemetery and vaulted it easily, landed on the other side, then began to merge into the shadows of the back alleys as he always did when he had made a successful assassination. The key thing to remember was: people wont talk. If you live in the alleys of frequent them for whatever reason an unspoken policy was – you didn't see anyone, you didn't talk to anyone, you were on your own. The distant wail of police sirens filled the air and the various groups of people littering the alley side walks dispersed instantly. The odd farewell was muttered but that was about the only conversation that happened and as the figures filtered out of the alleys so did Ross. He set off at a speed walking pace and soon the sirens were just distant monotonous drones. Merging with people was done well when you looked like you weren't trying to merge in with people, so shifty looks or glances were very out of place. Ross however, was a natural. It wasn't uncommon to see at least one person with some sort of gun on themselves so having a sniper slung on his back never drew attention to him and his confidence had passer-by's eyes glaze over him as if he hadn't just killed the leader of a rising gang. The walk to his high rise flat wasn't too far from here and before he knew it the ever impressive Eclipse building before him made partly of concrete and partly of glass – (bullet proof on his level) – was only a block away. Ross had planned this too, he was going to drop off his rifle and pick up his AP pistol then drive to his rendezvous point with, presumably, a lower rank run around dealer from the Director. Ironically the meeting point was just outside the FIB headquarters and Ross pulled up by the side of the street and sauntered over to the nervous looking guy who had a plain black suit on and the only accessory was a silver circle pin badge on the front of his jacket with a smaller circle in the middle: the symbol of the Overlookers. He had a briefcase by his chair too.  
“Hi there, how's it going?” Ross said, offering the guy a hand to shake while sitting down at the table.  
“...Not bad, you?” The man replied, shaking Ross's hand.  
“Yeah, I've had a great morning. Did you see the paper?” Ross replied easily. All the Overlookers' run arounds were nervous but this seemed like the guy's first mission, might as well make it easy for him.  
“Yeah. The crash with 13 people just outside the Maze bank? I heard 5 of them died, not 2.”  
“Well, whoever died, my condolences go to their family.” Ross replied, adding a small and sad smile for effect.  
“My condolences too.”  
“I do hate to rush you but I have places of importance to be, and on such short notice. I'm sorry for the inconvenience but we can meet up another time.” Ross said. From previous experience the newbies were more...flighty, per se.  
“Ah, it's nothing to worry about.” The man replied, standing up.  
“I'll contact you soon, good day.” Ross said, remaining seated. The man then walked away and to someone passing by it would have looked like a brief casual meeting, nothing inconspicuous, but they wouldn't have noticed that the suited man left his brief case or that the other man instead took it away.  
Ross smiled to himself. “ _Another job well done. It's not like I was forced to do it._ ”  
  
The promised $800,000 dollars in the case was deposited into Ross's bank. The lazy days afterwards spent in his flat watching the sun steadily climb over the golden horizon to make way for the moon felt almost too peaceful, and of course, they were. While Ross was checking his ammo stores and clips and magazines his phone beeped with a message. Twice. Someone obviously wanted to get hold of him quickly, and a quick scan of both messages got over the idea that the Director had another job for him.  
“ _Two jobs? I must be lucky._ ” Ross thought.  
As always, he picked up his AP pistol hid in the inside pocket of his jacket then set off to the Vinewood Bowl as the messages had indicated. He was to be approached by an ivory haired woman with a parcel directly so subtlety was out of the window and although he had one hour to get there he set off as soon as he had read the messages. Even though he was hired by the Director he was still not part of the Overlookers and the group still interested him. Ross loved one thing more than anything else: the game.  
  
You could take out low level pawns to scare someone then go for them the next day or you could take someone down, one person at a time, sending pictures of gang members being tortured and killed. The one security he had was the lack of police involvement – no gang, regardless of who they where, what they did, _no_ gang ever went to the police. In a way they were their own police but that hadn't stopped Ross pulling down gangs before. A hefty sum of $2,000,000 had been awarded to him when he had taken down The SecretPolice. It had been a fun game to play as each member of the gang fell under Ross's tranquilliser darts then woke up to his private torture room. A picture of each member and a handwritten account of how they had died always made it to the leader's desk via an insider Ross had blackmailed. The gang had fallen after 9 painstaking weeks and by that time the leader had called for a confrontation with Ross. He had killed himself too, Ross had just watched and laughed, grinning about his future bank statement.

 

So, when Ross arrived half an hour early he set himself up in a quiet corner of the bowl. He clicked through his phone for a bit, did a bit of online browsing to keep himself busy and before he knew it it was 10 minutes to 4 pm. Looking around lazily Ross's eyes flicked to the only criminal looking vehicle in the area – a black SUV with tinted windows and obvious bullet proof tyres. There was no license plate so tracking the Overlookers that way was out the window, and Ross seriously doubted the police would be bothered if a gang giant was possibly paying them for their ignorance, it was highly likely that the police were working for them too.  
As promised, an ivory haired woman stepped out of the SUV. She had a classy white suit on with a rose badge on her right breast; on her left was the Overlookers' symbol but in a black metal. Her heels clacked mercilessly loudly as she walked directly to him. In her hands was a white parcel box sealed with black tape. She finally reached him, set the box beside him and said,  
“The Director send his regards. The box will explain.”  
Then she turned, her tied up hair whipping the air as she walked back to the SUV. She looked over at him one last time before getting into the car.  
Ross looked down to pick the box up and when he looked up the SUV was gone.  
“ _This one is definitely gonna fuck me up._ ”  
  
Once Ross was in the safety of his flat he opened the box. 1 smaller package and a letter sat snugly inside and the letter read:

  
“To the assigned assassinator.  
  
It has come to my attention that there is a major drug trafficking threat to our cooperation. This is no gang though, it is merely 2 males from Britain who have invested in their drug trafficking scheme. I need you to find out:  
Their names  
Their addresses  
Their family  
Their affiliates  
Their suppliers  
Their customers  
Their trading grounds

Relay this information to me before you kill them. Their large scale organisation has been very hard for our informants to gather information on so don't hesitate to associate yourself with them. I need them dead by the end of the year which gives you 10 convenient months to befriend then kill them.”

  
It ended with only the Overlookers' symbol, no signature or names. Inside the second package was: a map with interest points circled neatly in red with small captions, various letter with various bits information about the drug leaders, and one address card which was blank except for 3 lines of writing:  
  
“0232, Paleto Boulevard,  
Paleto Bay  
Blaine Country”  
  
“Paleto Boulevard it is then.” Ross mused, flipping the card to make sure there wasn't any extra information he was missing. He tapped the edge of the card against his table for a few seconds before he memorised the address and put all the items back into the box. The other bits were just transfer payments, potential customers; things Ross didn't need to know or care about.  
  
As the early night grew upon Los Santos Ross stood by his ceiling to floor window, watching the city lights flicker on. Golden yellows and neon signs mingled with the ever flowing traffic and created the usual night scene. Silent shouts from the wilder night life that Ross knew would already be at the very least a little tipsy filled the street and the already stumbling bar hoppers could be seen laughing and shouting even though the only sound Ross could hear was his own breathing. He stood for a little while longer, silently watching the winding streets he now knew like the back of his hand.  
  
Ross could remember when he first arrived in Los Santos. From a small scale rent/hire business in Britain to a higher speed classy hire in a bustling city, Ross hadn't always fitted in well and yes, his accent was still as prominent as it always had been and yes, his mannerism that were so painstakingly British stood out but he could hide them and fake an accent when needs be. His first mission was mainly him looking at a map and hoping he was in the right place but now Ross could hear an address and even if it wasn't familiar he could guess the general area it was in. Blaine Country was only on the _other side_ of San Andreas but going out to scout the area at night would be a better option than in broad daylight.  
  
Changing into dark jeans, a plain white top and his black jacket, Ross set off to his garage to get a motorcycle. Fast, inconspicuous, easily mobile through small spaces, just the type of vehicle for a recon mission.  
“The Bati should be good for this...” Ross mumbled to himself as he grabbed the keys from the shelf and kicked it into life. The low purr of the bike brought back memories of daft yet exhilarating street races and police chases. He had never once fallen off a bike and due to that fact he didn't own a safety helmet it was vital he never did fall. It would be bulky anyway and he wasn't getting into any trouble, just some info gathering, that's how he mainly used his bike anyway.  
  
Rolling his bike out of his garage, Ross checked the road then pushed out into the traffic. One thing that had been terrible was driving on the right – it had certainly taken some getting used to. He figured it out soon enough though and pulled himself back out of memory lane as he took a hard left and leant forwards against the wind, pushing himself down and feeling the rumble of the engine step up in body. A quick gear shift and he was going at a good 50 mph, the wind biting his eyes and rushing through his short hair, fingers icing with cold and heart racing with the speed. Ross doubted that the cops would regulate speeders at night, he'd never been pulled for it and the recent lack of cops in the area meant that although crime rates were up he could drive however he wanted with no drawbacks. A sharp right pulled him onto the motorway and here he could really push the speed. 60 ticked by, 70 then 80, but he decided that his life was worth more than hypothermia so keeping a constant 80 seemed like the better option. It wasn't long before his exit approached and Ross pulled down small streets, kicking his speed to coast at 30 down the streets while he relaxed himself to sit straighter.  
Recognising the streets and where he was Ross slowed even more to just 10 mph and walked his bike with his feet, pushing his brakes until he rolled to a stop just outside 0228. Cutting the engine, Ross slide off his bike, locked the wheels, and set off at a slow leisurely pace towards 0232.  
  
The usually obnoxiously loud aerial sea life was silent and the deep rumble of trucks pulling into motels for the night slowly subsided into an almost eerily silent and dead town. Crickets serenaded the moon and as Ross slowed to walk past the house he had been directed to he realised that he recognised it – it was a safehouse. The obnoxious American flag had been pulled down from when he last saw it and the strange sickly peeling blue wood paint had been replaced with a lighter fresh birch colour. The dulled white painted window frames and support railings had been re-painted too and the windows, even though one was cracked, were surprisingly clean. The soft yellow glow that showed through the plain white curtains showed that the inhabitants were still awake and the occasional white flash hinted at a T.V playing.  
  
Sitting down in the shadow of a tree Ross watched the house until the lights clicked off downstairs then clicked on upstairs. During that time he had noted down the license plate number of the car outside and he assumed the people owned another in their garage. Laziness with vehicles lead to car theft, but Ross had never experienced that. He had only ever done the taking.  
The lights upstairs finally flickered off and Ross took that as a pointer that his recon mission hadn't gone as well as planned. Maybe if he came early tomorrow he could catch them in a situation where he could get their number's or something. For now, he kicked his bike back into life and began the ride home.  
  
The second day brought more information than Ross could ever had hoped for: he saw his two targets.  
One of them was a brunette who was significantly smaller than his counterpart and his hair was swept across his face in a careless but styled fashion. He smiled goofily but it seemed genuine and he had to walk a bit faster than his friend to keep up with him. From his scope Ross could see that the man’s eyes were a deep chocolate brown. He walked with a learnt yet wavering confidence. His eyes seemed trained ahead, almost as if he was willing himself along more than just walking along. His front left pocket of his jacket outlined a box of some sort.  
His friend had wilder, fluffy ginger hair which swept across his face too but fell short just before his eye, hanging down almost. He had a half beard and a squinty smile that puffed out his cheeks a little. Again, from his scope, Ross could see that this man’s eyes were a clear blue. He never looked down while talking to his friend but he wasn't ignoring him. He walked with assured confidence and an easy going gaze that flicked between the sky and the surrounding street, almost like a look out.  
  
The two men sat themselves on a bench by the beach far away from their home, the smaller of the two crossing an ankle over his leg; the taller sat back languidly. As if it was on queue a ratty looking woman with spiky blonde hair, an obnoxious pink puffy parka, and cheetah spot leggings walked up to them, silver boots glittering extremely unflatteringly in the early morning sun. The smaller man unzipped his pocket and traded one parcel for the next then the woman left. The two men stayed for a bit then started to head back the way they came.  
Ross had anticipated some sort of contact with them, but not so soon. He tried to think of a sure fire way to get them to speak to him first but obviously that wasn't happening any time soon so he kept his position, concealed by the undergrowth and rocks that littered the area near his target's house. Approaching them now might be too risky so maybe drawing up a quick plan while he could watch them and account for their mannerisms would be better.  
“ _This is going to be amusing._ ”  
  
A break on day 3 to get his some of vehicles serviced seemed like a waste of time but time was something Ross had plenty of so the vehicles that he didn't frequently use were spruced up, just in case. This gave Ross the time to create some mundane ideas; complexity didn't always equal naturality. A fake breakdown right outside their house maybe? Or maybe he could conveniently lose a dog, hand out posters, let them find his 'lost' dog? Something simple, something that had Ross musing over various ideas before he had a better idea. He could send in an insider to buy whatever sort of drug they were selling. Maybe the insider could get a name, a business name, heck even a contact number would be great at this point. Getting the right guy would take no more than 2 minutes because all his various disposable contacts all owed him a favour and using a low level bargain would be good for this situation. Ross scrolled through his contacts before he found the perfect one and called the number.  
“Hello, Drew speaking, what d'ya need?”  
“I need a favour, Drew.” Ross said into the phone, lowering his tone to give of an intimidating vibe.  
“Ah, my man, Frankie. I-uh, what do you need done?” Drew said, using an alias of Ross's.

“I need information. I'm going to send you, personally, on a drug run. I'll give you the money, all you need to do is get 2 names and a contact number.”  
“Sure. But … me personally? Really? I mean – I'll get the job done of course but, uh, yeah and -I, uh I have men who could-”  
“No, you. I made a deal with you.” Ross cut of with chilling precision between Drew's flustered and pitiful attempts to withdraw himself from their deal.  
“Okay. We'll meet on Elgin Avenue, by Legion Square.”  
“Be there in 20 minutes.” Ross commanded, then he hung up, not giving Drew the choice of whether or not he could or couldn't come.  
  
Elgin Avenue was only 10 minutes away at the most and Ross could only guess that maybe their sell price was anywhere from $1000 - $3000, they seemed well of enough to afford their house and seemed well presented too. He took $3000 with him just in case, tucked the wad into his inside coat pocket, then set out on a brisk walk.  
It was early evening and the crisp air settled a chilled mist over Los Santos. The low light of the ending day faded and dimmed in the light of the slowly awakening night lights and bright lights.  
  
Ross sat on a railing by the 'art' instalment and waited for Drew to arrive. It was moments later that the said man appeared, green jacket covering his dark skin to his elbows and that _stupid_ hat that needed shooting off. Ross rose and started walking alongside him as he came closer.  
“I need the info by tomorrow.” Ross stated, skipping the warm pleasantries.  
“Man, I can't do that!”  
“You can and you will, or else you die. It's 5:13pm, you have until midnight to contact me with the names and a viable contact with the dealers that live here-” Ross gave Drew a slip of paper with the dealers' address on. “Take this, buy something, keep whatever you don't spend – I don't care just get me my details.” With that Ross reached into his jacket, pulled out the money, pushed it into Drew's hands then turned and left.  


After around 4 hours of waiting Ross finally got the one call he wanted.

“I have 2 names and a phone number. Alex Smith, Chris Trott. You got a pen?”  
“Yes.”  
“Their, well, one cell phone number is 073-553-4823.”  
“Thank you. Have a good day.” Ross thanked him, rolling his eyes as he heard Drew's all too audible sigh of relief.  
“Nah man, thank you. You have a good 'un. C ya man” And then the phone clicked off.  
Ross stood up and wandered over to his window to once again gaze over the city of Los Santos.  
“Tomorrow, I think, I'll make 2 new friends.”

 

As the morning light pulled Ross out of his blissful sleep his mind spun with the many possible conversations he could possibly make with his enemies. It had been a solid week since he had killed someone so his irritability could possibly screw his efforts but he was a smooth talker when he wanted to be.  
The already familiar route to his new affiliates house seemed more lively today, more traffic, more people, more everything. Ross, naturally, had taken his bike so slipping down queue after queue through miles of cars was an easy feat. He had soon managed to escape the crowded main road and now raced no one but himself down the now deserted roads through Blaine Country. With his mind half on the road and half on the task at hand Ross drove marginally slower than he would have done, taking in the sights of the long reaching coast and the small idyllic town that was Paleto Bay. He wondered what Alex and Chris were doing now, wondered how he would approach them, wondered if it would go well – everything went well for Ross so he figured he had nothing to worry about.  
He had it all planned out.  
He had tampered with his bike so that at a push of a very indiscreet button it would breakdown, and the breakdown site was conveniently outside Alex and Chris's house. Seeing the cheery birch wood made Ross smile for some reason and as he squinted he could see the two men sat outside on their garden.  
“ _Time to put thoughts into action._ ” Ross thought, then slipped his hand down just under the left handle bar concealed by the rubber grip and clicked the button. Almost immediately his engine sputtered and cut out with clouds of grey smoke billowing from the engine so Ross pushed his brake as hard as he could and rolled to a stop in front of the two men's house. He jumped off his bike, coughing for extra effect, and walked towards Alex and Chris who had jumped up and were jogging towards him.  
“Wow mate, you got one heck of a breakdown there.” The taller one called to him while he shielded his eyes from the smoke which was blowing in their direction.  
“Yeah, I thought I had it all sorted but _someone_ obviously screwed up, the twats.” Ross replied with a scowl thrown in the direction his smouldering bike.  
“Well, looks like you wont be going anywhere soon and there aren't any places 'round here you could get it fixed up either. That sucks.” The smaller one said with a sympathetic smile.  
“God, I live so far away too. Are there any hotels or places I could stay at while I call a mechanic out or...?” Ross trailed off as both men shook their heads.  
“How long would your mechanic be?” The smaller one asked, getting suspicious look from the taller one.  
“Well, I can get him out first thing in the morning and then there's travelling time...” Ross said wistfully, already scrolling through his phone to call his mechanic. The taller seemed to have caught onto what his friend was saying and said,  
“Well, if it's just one day you could stay here but you'd have to sleep on the sofa.”  
“Really? You are both life savers, thank you so much. Oh, I'm Ross Hornby.” Ross then mentally kicked himself, why had he told them his real name? He had meant to use an alias but his mouth had just moved of it's own accord. Both men held out their hands, both of which Ross shook.  
“I'm Alex Smith, nice to me ya mate. Call me Smiffy. Or Smith, or some weird variation of my last name.” The tall one said when Ross shook his hand, his grin reaching his eyes puffing his cheeks a little.  
“And I'm Chris Trott, but ya know, just call me Trott. Also, ignore most of what he says – it's stupid and ridiculous -”  
“Just like that hairstyle mate.”  
“Oi!” Ross said, making the two laugh and Chris Trott flip them both off.  
“You can pull that onto the drive for now, when it stops smoking we have a space in the garage you can put it in for the night.” Alex Smith said, shaking his head at the bike.  
“Thank you so much for this.”  
“No problems, also, I don't wanna sound rude or anything but, d'you move from Britain? Accents and all...” Alex said as they walked to the house.  
“I did I was gonna ask you guys the same thing.”  
“Huh. Great minds think alike and all that.”  
“Hey, once you guys stop bumming out there you can come inside I can give Ross the grand tour.”  
“I know what I'll be coming inside if he knows what I mean!” Alex said as he dug an elbow into Ross's side, a humours glint in his eyes as he laughed with Ross.  
“I can hear you!”  
“He loves it really.” Alex whispered to him.  
“I'll bet he does.” Ross replied with a wink, and for once, a genuine smile.

 

As Ross had assumed their house wasn't the epitome of class. Their sofa was worn around the sides and some of the sponge inside was showing; various stains here and there showed that they had either gotten the sofa second hand or that they were just careless with the upkeep of their house. They had a coffee table that had some scratches on it and coffee rings, a lamp that was plain except for a circle pattern on the shade. Their room seemed homely and lived in unlike the many other houses Ross had been in before. The kitchen was small but efficient much like their bathroom and overall, even though the house was small it was most definitely theirs.  
“You look like you’re kinda posh so sorry if it’s not like what you probably live in…” Chris started and then he trailed of as his eyes cast over their living room.  
“Actually it looks very homely. My flat, even though it’s expensive, is empty compared to here. I like it.” Ross said, which was a lie. He liked his open space plan flat simply because of how much light he would get from the sky. Though it wasn't unpleasant he definitely preferred his expensive lifestyle over their simple one.  
“Aww, thanks mate. It’s better outside than in though.” Alex said, sitting beside him on their worn sofa.  
“Ross?” Chris asked. It sounded like the question someone said before an offensive one.  
“Yeah?”  
“If you can afford that bike, how come it broke down?”  
“I forgot to take it into services. A stupid mistake really, but I like where I broke down. This town is quite, not like the city.”  
“Have you lived in the city all your life?” Alex asked as he turned the volume on the T.V down  
“Well, sort of. Before I moved here I lived in Swindon which is near a city I guess…” Ross silently kicked himself again, why had he told them where he grew up? He had to watch his mouth more but speaking to them seemed natural, his choice of words didn't though.  
“Hey, that’s close to where Smith and I grew up!”  
“Shame we didn't meet earlier mate.” Alex said with an easy smile.  
“Yeah it is, we could have been best mates.” Ross replied.”  
“Hey, I thought we were mates, you’re living with us.” Chris said, a fake scowl crossing his face.  
“For one day.”  
“I will forever treasure this day and will forever remember your face.” Chris said, standing and comically placing a fist over his heart with a ridiculously fake grin which turned to mock offence when Alex gritted his teeth a half shouted,  
“He’s gonna jack off to ya face mate!”  
“Mhmm, your eyes are the colour of my jizz mate.”  
“What? Your jizz is blue? That sounds really fucking unhealthy mate.” Ross said with a laugh, putting emphasis on the ‘really’ as he drew it out.  
“Nah mate, everything ‘bout Trott is really fucking unhealthy.”  
“Both of you – shut it. I do not have blue jizz-”  
“Okay Trotty, we’ll believe it when we see it-” Alex started but what cut of when Chris said,  
“You’re not going to see my jizz.” Rolling his eyes.  
“That’s what he thinks…” Ross stage whispered as Alex laughed and Chris sat down in exasperation.  
“Shut up Smith, go fuck your guitar or something…” He muttered.  
“You play guitar?” Ross asked with genuine curiousness.  
“Yep. Acoustic, wanna hear a song?” Alex said as he got up, presumably to get his guitar.  
“Oh, I play too but I prefer making beats up and stuff.” Ross said as he watched Alex disappear up stairs.  
“So you’re a beat boxing man then.” Chris said, smiling. “We could do with a beat boxer.”  
“For a band or…?”  
“No, we don’t play professionally-”  
“It’s a hobby is what he means.” Alex said as he returned with his guitar.  
“Smith mate, he’s a beat boxer.”  
“Rossy… he was a beat box-y?” Alex said as he strummed out a chord.  
“Wait, you got yours but not mine?” Chris complained as he got up. “Wait a sec, I’ll get mine too.”  
“While he’s gone give us a beat Ross.” Alex said as he sat back down next to Ross.  
Ross leant forwards resting his elbows on his knees then started out a regular beat, just imitating a bass drum for now. Alex strummed out some chords then seemed to settle on an A and was mumbling to himself.  
“What chord mate?” Chris said as he came back down the stairs.  
“An A, and I just got some good lyrics too listen to this. Ahem.” And as Chris joined in backing up his chords Alex sang,  
“Trotty, his scrotty, was small- it was tiny! He-  
“Why do you always sing about my penis!” He complained but played along nevertheless. Ross broke his beat for a sec to laugh then came back in with a few extra beats.  
“So tiny he couldn't see it-  
“Smith!”  
“Okay, okay, what do we sing then?” He asked.  
“Sweet dreams-”  
“Breakdown!” Alex said, gritting his teeth with a smile.  
“Oh! Sweet dreams are made of these,  
who ‘ad a mind to disagree,  
I’d travel the world and the seven seas,  
everybody is looking for something!”  
“Make it Grimy mate!”  
So Ross changed his beats for low grimy spaced out beats as Alex’s random ‘Oohs” that always seemed to be in time mixed with Chris’s low voice made it so bad it was good.  
“Oh, grimy!” Ross put in with a few ‘gr-gr-grimy!’s from Alex. It stayed like that for about 30 seconds before it fell apart into laughter.  
“We've not had something as ridiculous as that in ages. Christ” Chris said as he leant his guitar against his chair.  
“Not bad mate, not bad. How d’ya get into beat boxing?” Alex asked him, he too put down his guitar. Ross for a second was sad that they couldn't keep on going with their grimy breakdown but he was already getting too close to them.  
“I don’t actually know, I just did I guess. Picked up some tricks, that sort of stuff.” As he said this Alex and Chris nodded along.  
“You know what? We should keep in contact.”  
“Yeah, I really like you guys and how long have I been here? 3 hours? 4?”  
“4 mate.” Alex said. Ross noticed it was the first time he’d used ‘mate’ to refer to him and it made him want to smile but he pushed that emotion back to the depths it belonged to.  
“4 hours and now it’s 11 and you have to be up early in the morning. You should get to sleep.” Chris said. Although Ross didn't fully want to he complied and thanked them for the blanket and pillow they gave him. He bid them good night then laid down on the a sofa.

 

Thinking back to the grand tour de la drug dealers Ross had found out that Chris did the talking for the most part, Alex just quipped in with the witty comment every now and then. Their friendship wasn't questionable, it seemed so natural for them, they way they moved around each other, the way they knew how to make even the most offensive jokes hilarious and Ross found himself genuinely wanting to be friends with them. That was out of the question though. As he laid down in the dim light seeping in through a crack in the curtains Ross reflected back on his day. Overall it had been a success but the conversations he held with Chris and Alex seemed stilted to him, forced. He hoped that would change, then he tossed that thought out of his mind. He was here to kill them, not be friends with them, right?


	2. Void

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ross makes a shocking discovery about Smith and Trott, but what happens next is almost explosive.

Evaluating people was a gift of Ross's so as he slowly woke up with the morning chorus (which normally he hated) he contemplated and thought about his two targets.  
At first Chris had seemed reserved, almost embarrassed by Alex's remarks, but as soon as Ross had shown he thought they were amusing Chris had visibly relaxed into the easy going flow of their conversation. He got distracted easily though, a liability for sure. He showed his energetic side through in the way he moved: he would walk faster, bound even, and encourage people to move faster or do what he told them to do and he hardly seemed affected by insults and if they did affect him he didn't show it. Overall, Chris seemed to be a chilled guy with a somewhat energetic side.

Alex on the other hand was the definition of confidence. He threw around various remarks, insults and witty comments, easily walking from situations that some people would confront him about with quick comebacks. His infectiously happy mood was a stark contrast to Chris's and he always found something to laugh about, specifically making making as many sexual innuendos a he could possibly think of. He would wander around, pick up his guitar for 20 minutes or so and strum random chords and mutter lyrics with no real effort to them but it sounded so thoughtful. Everything he did he did with ease; he had no resolution to do anything but he accomplished everything he did with self-assured nonchalance.

 

As Ross finally fully woke up the morning light filtered through the curtains and as he got up he noticed that even though the clock said it was 9AM he was the only one awake. He didn’t want to leave them without saying a full goodbye so instead he got up and put his coat on, folded the blanket, then wrote them a note.  
“I was up early so didn’t have the time to say thank you or goodbye. We should meet up again soon, call me-  
647 363 45 01”  
  
Ross used his actual phone number too, put the note on top of the blankets the walked outside to wheel his bike out of the garage. He slid their keys under the shutter just before it shut. His mechanic wasn’t needed as his bike wasn’t actually broken so he wheeled it quite a way down the road then started the long drive back to his flat.  
  
Ross walked into the lift thinking about getting some coffee and breakfast. Going over his plan he could dispatch them in less than 3 days, but he had a troubling thought. Ever since he had arrived he had only ever had allies or enemies, not friends. Their hospitality and stupid jokes, their impromptu break down of ‘Sweet dreams’, their casual conversation – it had Ross wishing he could have a friend.  
As he walked into his flat he shrugged off his coat and dumped it on the sofa with his keys, the distance between his door and his sofa seemed somewhat larger than it had before. He walked over to his kitchen to start working on something to eat and brewed up a pot of coffee to go with his toast. His flat seemed too quiet for him after his stay with Alex and Chris, too…lonely.  
His saw his phone flashing in the corner of his eyes and picked it up to see a message from Alex.

 

“Hey mate, glad you enjoyed you’re stay. Meet up in 2 days at our house.”  
“Will do, see you there at 10.” He replied then chucked his phone aside.

 

The morning paper had been delivered up to him as always and the headline dangerously stated,  
“The Overlookers and what they see.”  
If Liberty Tree's article offended the Overlookers in the slightest they were sure to go out of business within the hour. The article read,  
  
“ **The Overlookers are the newest company in the San Andreas area to invest in stock goods. Their business was well received by San Andreas, especially within the Los Santos area.**  
However, the boss of the Overlookers isn’t a stocks company giant; they are the new organised crime cult that ascended using terror and violence to settle their roots into Los Santos. There have been more that 6,000 isolated cases in which the Overlookers have reportedly ordered the execution of the citizens of Los Santos.  
The Los Santos Police Department has issued a report that states:

“Along with the introduction of the Overlookers several new unspoken policies have been introduced into San Andreas.  
Complete compliance with actions proposed by the section of which any Overlooker admin commands is requested. Any defiance will result in death.  
Question-ability about the goals of the Overlookers is frowned upon. Any defiance will result in death.  
If you are commanded to make an audience with any employees of the Overlooker you must attend. Any defiance will result in death.  
  
(See the full list on page 4 alongside pictures of possible bosses)  
  
The introduction of these has led to a dramatic rise in drug related deaths, whether that be by taking them or conflicts with rival gangs over the substances.  
  
Alongside this the already unmanageable gang rivalry that commands San Andreas has been unsettled further due to the new influence from the Overlookers and rivalry over gang regulated territory has resulted in major consequences for the younger generations including an increase of gun crimes and gun related deaths, melee related deaths, and assassinations.”  
  
The police report was issued yesterday and will be publicly announced on national television, radio stations and social and news networking sites.  
Written by Clint Glen.  
  
The article concluded and at the bottom of the page showed a celebrity of some sort having a ‘fashion faux pas’. The Overlookers had only been present in San Andreas for 4 months now and Ross was pleased that he had one connection to them at least; being an assassinator had its benefits, even if you're the only one who knew about them. From the looks of it the police had silently declared a war on the Overlookers.  
“That is the single most stupid thing they could have done.” Ross said aloud, shaking his head and flipping the page.  
  
The two days seemed to pass like a blur, so slow yet so blindingly fast that Ross was already looking forwards to the next day. He was unusually restless that night and woke up later than he usually would have done. He got a quick shower, did his usual morning routine, then got dressed. It took him some time but Ross chose a plain white stop with his silver stripe leather jacket, black jeans and charcoal leather shoes. Minimalism with limited colours had always suited him better.

 

He figured he'd make a good impression and arrive a bit earlier so he took his Alpha and set off for Alex and Chris's home.  
Ross knew he was supposed to uncover their secret drug trade, kill them, hand over their dead bodies and collect his cash but that didn't stop him from socialising with them. So far they had proved curious to him and a few weeks of getting to know them wouldn't be too bad. His leisurely drive was enjoyable; Ross had already gotten used to driving down the Great Ocean Highway and the open road was a drastic scene change from the concrete jungle he was used to. The drive itself was calming which was good because Ross's nerves were, for the first time in a long time, jumping about and making him visualise things that could possibly go wrong.  
Ross finally arrived at Chris and Alex's house and when he rang the doorbell a rather cheery Alex answered holding a basket and Chris was behind him with a chequered blanket.  
“Ross, nice to see you again. We don't need to drive anywhere it's only a 20 minute walk to where were going.” Alex said handing Ross the basket so he could lock the front door.  
“Ross. Your car.” Chris said astoundedly though Ross didn't catch onto what he meant.  
“Hmm? Oh yeah, that sure does look like a car to me.” He said, walking out onto the drive with the two men.  
“He means 'you're rich' Ross.” Alex explained. “It really is a nice car.”  
“Thanks, I had the blue mixed personally.”  
“Ross, if you have the money to buy this don't you have people who, I dunno, might be richer than us, don't you have to be with them or something?” Chris asked. Ross noted this and related it back to when he first saw him – Chris didn't have a lot of confidence.  
“No, I'm friends with people that matter to me and spending time with you guys is a way of thanking you – also, it's been so long since I've found anyone who can make as many offensive yet hilarious jokes as you guys.”  
“So, the lonely rich guy makes friends with poor people, he then becomes nicer. I like the plot line for this story.” Alex said with a grin.  
“Smith?” Ross asked with a grin just as wide.  
“What.”  
Ross pushed the basket back into Smith's arms and said,  
“Go eat shit.”  
  
Sitting back and watching the two people Ross had to kill had him actually contemplating the idea. It hadn't even been a week that he'd known of their existence and already he was feeling protective over them. Of course, he hadn't asked them about any job they _should_ have but they assumed he was a successful yet lonely business man so all was good on that front. Leaning back on his arms and watching the two throw rocks at each other with such a force that he could see blood on their arms had Ross smiling and shaking his head at their stupid antics, and for a fleeting second, to Ross, it seemed like he fit in with them, that he belonged even if he was more on the sideline, he fit in with them. Then that feeling was gone as Ross saw the same woman they had dealt to stalk up to them with a sour look on her face. Ross rose up and began to walk over and as he did he caught the end of their conversation.  
  
“What do you expect me to do? You dealt dodgy stuff and I'm gonna claim MY debts.” She raged with a raised finger pointed at Alex who had stood in front of Chris.  
“What's going on.” Ross said sternly stepping into the space between the woman and Alex.  
“You part of these? Fuck you, fuck you and fuck you too. I'm going to have the three of you murdered, I might even do it myself!” She screamed, standing on her toes only to reach Ross's chest.  
“I'd like to see you try, you see, I could kill you. I could torture and then kill everyone you know and love as you watch. Their last view will be of me laughing and spitting in their face as you watch and they'll know it was all. Your. Doing.” Ross threatened with a deep chill to his words. With a scowl etched into her face the woman turned and left, flipping them off as she did. Wordlessly the three collected their belongings and silently returned to the little safehouse.  
  
“What in the ever loving **fuck** was that about?” Ross demanded even though he knew full well himself.  
“Ross, you can't go to the police just hear us out we-” Chris started as he paced in the small living room.  
“Do you think I really care? Why would you deal dodgy stuff? That is a recipe for a fucking meltdown!” Ross countered, standing in front of Chris with his arms crossed.  
“Wait, you don't care that we're drug dealing to get by?” Alex said standing up beside Chris.  
“Well, now I know that you're drug dealers you might want to know what my job is-” Ross said, half smiling when Chris cut him off.  
“You deal too?” Chris asked.  
“No, I'm an assassin.” Ross said simply. Saying it out loud had never bothered him before but to see the look of distrust in both Alex and Chris's eyes made him feel almost embarrassed and his small grin slipped of his face as he looked away.  
“You kill people for a living.” Alex stated with a guarded look on his face.  
“You know the Overlookers? Of course you do- you don't say no to them. Yes, I've willingly killed people in the past but I get told to do this, the cash is just an incentive.” Ross explained. The whole truth wasn't the best truth but keeping them in the dark seemed selfish – half truths were better than lies, right?  
“Well, what now? We didn't deal shitty stuff and now we have a mad woman dishing out death threats.” Chris sighed, sitting down and closing his eyes.  
“Where do you keep your stash.” Ross asked.  
“Why do you want to know.” Alex said immediately with distrust clear as day in his eyes.  
“Well, I can fix your problem.”  
“What if we don't want you too?” Alex replied.  
“Don't you trust me? Well, no, I don't expect you too. You've barely even begun to talk to me but trust me on one thing at least – I _know_. This is my life, everyday. I can get whoever you deal to powerful stuff, maybe too powerful.”  
“What, so we kill our problematic clients?”  
“It's kill or be killed mate and I know which one I'd rather do. You got yourselves into this situation, let me help.” Ross pleaded. A part of himself, even though it was very deep down wanted to help them.  
“Smith, mate. Just- we'll show you. I trust you.” Chris said but Ross was good at detecting lies when he heard them.  
“Trott-”  
“No. We show him, he helps us.” Chris said with a little more certainty.  
“...fine.”  
“Ross, we have more than us two dealing. You're now part of what we do and it's more than just a small scale drug run.”  
“Believe me, whatever you're doing I've probably seen worse.” Ross said with a small smile.  
Looking over at the two new people he classed as his friends made Ross suddenly re-evaluate their situation.  
  
On the one hand he could easily get them out of the situation, but looking at Alex who was hunched over and massaging his temples, tapping them occasionally – that made Ross stop. Chris had sat down with his arms crossed, eyes closed and jaw clenched and as Ross looked over at them both he sighed and ran a hand over his face in frustration.  
“I'm sorry.” He said, and he genuinely was. He had made their situation a lot worse than it had to be.  
“It's fine mate. There's no other way it could've gone.” Alex said, standing up and running a hand through his hair.  
“...Ross?”  
“Chris?” Ross replied, watching as he too stood up and went to a small cupboard. He opened it and turned to Ross with a devious smile.  
“You know how to scuba dive?”  
  
“You hid _20 tonnes_ of, what, cocaine and-”  
“Meth, mcat, ket, phet, benzos and heroin. Told you it's more than just a small scale drug run mate.” Alex said proudly with a glint in his eyes.  
“We had it shipped over in an unregistered boat, don't worry, we know what were doing.” Chris said as Ross immediately thought of how ridiculously stupid it was.  
“You his 20 tonnes of shit in the _ocean!_ That's – I've never heard – how does it stay dry? How the hell – why,” Ross had to pause to take in a deep breath, “God, I genuinely don't know what to say.”  
“It's a bit of a way out but it's not too far. We keep it dry with air locked metal boxes inside a bigger box.” Chris said, smiling as Ross shook his head in disbelief.

“If you have such a large scale drug operation how come you don't have a larger place or better cars and stuff?” Ross asked.  
“We're keeping ourselves off the radar for now. We have shipments come in every now and then too, and we give smaller ones to our runners.” Alex explained as they walked round the beach cliffs to a small white boat that was moored to a wooden post that was wedged into the rock face.  
“I see. How long does it take to get to your store?” Ross asked while climbing into the boat.  
“About 20 minutes by boat then another 10 to dive down to it.” Alex said, sitting next to Ross while he sorted out the tanks and gears. Chris started up the engine and soon the three were crashing over wave breaks laughing when they got drenched by the spray the boat kicked up. As the mainland grew smaller and the ocean seemed to grow even larger than Ross had ever known it too the boat started to slow down and Alex handed over a set of scuba gear and a wetsuit and a lycra suit.  
“What's the lycra for?” Ross asked, suddenly conscious that he'd have to change in front of them both.  
“It gets cold down there mate-” Chris said from the cabin.  
“Proper nippy mate-” Alex butted in with a sly smile.  
“Freezing.” Chris accentuated.  
“Okay, okay, I get your point.” Ross said with a laugh as he pulled his shirt off. He turned his back on them both as he put on the lycra suit then the wet suit.  
“Nice arse Ross.” Chris said with a laugh as he got changed, laughing even more when Alex slapped it.  
“Jesus Smith!”  
“Very firm, a grade A butt I think.” He laughed.  
“Shut up and help me get my tank on.” Ross huffed, but the smile on his face gave everything away.  
  
Having only been scuba diving twice Ross knew the basic signals and of course he knew how to swim but the surface never captured the beauty underneath the glittering waves. The bright sunlight filtered through the surface illuminating the sea floor which even though it was blurry due it it being so deep was a mix off deep blues and greens. Fish swam lazily past them paying to attention to them and the three swam down in a close formation (with Ross as the back with a line of rope) the water grew colder and darker, more sinister and threatening and the growing pressure pushed in on Ross which emphasised the diluted nothing he could hear and the navy waves that surrounded him. Eventually they came to a series of large rocks and a dark box shape that Ross could barely make out. It had chains wrapping it that were buried in the rocks beside the box and a padlock and circular hole on the lid. Chris motioned to Alex who unlocked the lid and a cascade of water rushed into the box yet nothing came out. Chris pulled out 5 boxes, each were a different colour: a red one, a yellow one, a green one a blue one and a white one. Chris wrapped them together with length of the rope Ross was holding and Alex closed the lid, locked it then pressed the circular hole. Nothing seemed to happen but Ross felt himself drift away slightly with an unseen current. The swim back felt oddly soothing, more so than the trip there.

 

Even with no talking between the three of them Ross managed to bump Alex to get him to push the boxes out of Chris's arms. The boxes were safe but it was funny watching Trott fumble and do a half flip to get them and as he righted himself Ross gave Smith a high five. He soon regretted it though as Alex flipped him upside down then swam under him to push him upwards which completely disorientated Ross, much to Chris's delight. Their under sea quarrelling went on for some time before the cold really started to set in so the three men started their journey back to the boat again, following the length of rope winding it up as they went. Soon they could see the silhouette of the boat and as they broke the surface Ross pulled of his mask and breathed in the fresh salty air, thankful to have his face above water after spending so much time under it.  
“Trott, you and those fucking boxes!” Ross laughed as Chris pulled off his mask and pulled himself onto the boat.  
“Best idea ever mate.” Alex grinned beside him, lifting the boxes out of the water for Chris to grab. Ross pulled himself up then gave Alex a hand up onto the boat. “Thanks.”  
“So now we get back t mainland and see what's wrong with them.” Chris said, placing the boxes on the seat next to him while he put down his tanks by Smith.  
  
The ride back was silent except for the boat's whirring engine, but the silence was oddly comfortable. If it were any other occasion Ross would have started some sort of small talk, maybe to gain little bits of information or to make whoever he was talking to feel more comfortable but sitting in the boat made him feel happy somehow, as if he really did belong there. Chris was concentrating on the sea and Smith was messing around on his phone while humming a disjointed yet beautiful tune to a song Ross didn't recognise. Sighing, Ross leant back in his seat, and smiled. It just felt as natural to not speak as it had done when they constantly talked. He propped his head up with his arms crossed behind him, kicked up a leg to rest on the other and closed his eyes.  
It felt so natural he never wanted this perfect moment to end.

 

“I know someone who could get this tested in under a day if we need to.” Ross began as Trott laid the boxes on the kitchen table and pulled off the lids.  
“In under a day?” Alex asked incredulously as he helped lift various packages out of the boxes.  
“I have a very big influence on certain people.” Ross said simply and lifted over the scales provided to start weighing out amounts according to the chart that Chris had pulled out of a drawer.  
“And I suppose we don't get to know how you got that influence?”  
“Well, I'm certainly not straight but I'm not givin' you a blowie Trott.” Ross said with a flirty smile.  
“He's givin' it to me mate!” Alex shouted with a cheeky grin.  
“Oooh you'd like that wouldn't you?” Chris said darkly as he picked up a package to start weighing out.  
“I'm gonna shove my cock in his mouth!” Smith replied with gritted teeth as he moved the boxes out of the way.  
“Oh! Nasty!” Ross laughed, pushing over a 100g pile of powder over to Chris.  
They fell into silence as they concentrated on weighing out their various substances until Alex finished his pile and half pushed himself away from the table with a loud screech of wood on tiles.  
“You know Ross, when you broke down in front of our house I'd never have thought you'd be helping us weigh out drugs.” Alex pondered aloud as he watched the other two work. “How d'you get someone to test them for you anyway?”  
“I have a few favours that some people owe me. Yes, I'm an assassin but that doesn't mean I have to kill everyone I'm commanded to.” Ross said and it was entirely true. “I tell them to change their name, go into hiding, that sort of stuff.”  
“And they listen to you?” Trott asked, looking up at them both as he finally finished his batch.  
“They will if they don't want to die.” Ross replied, standing up with a small sample he could drop off at a trusted lab he knew.  
“Don't go all dark on us mate. Anyway, Smith. These 6 need dropping of at the usual location, I'll take these 4 to the second place and Ross you can get that one tested for us.” Chris said as he walked to the door. “Drop us a text when you do.”  
“Sure. I'll see you guys later.” Ross waved then got into his car. He saw Smith ride off on his bike and Trott in a car. “I will.”  
  
Ross sat in his car for a second before scrolling through the contacts on his phone. He found the one with just 'Lewis's as its name and called.  
“Ross, I haven't heard from you in a while. How's it going friend?” A chirp voice answered. Usually this would grate on Ross but he didn't seem to mind it as such.  
“Not bad, not bad. Listen, I have a job for you.”  
“I could possibly poison someone...not sure I could really kill a person...” Lewis said, trailing off to let Ross give him some details but Ross didn't need Lewis for poisoning. Well, not yet anyway.  
“No, not that. I need you to test something for me to make sure it's good.”  
“Ah. I see. Well I'm not actually doing anything important right now so you can pop on over if you want.”  
“I will, see you in a bit.” Ross said cheerily and went to put the phone down.  
“Wait! Before you go – are you feeling well? You sound so much happier than you normally do.”  
“I'm not dark and brooding all the time mate.” Mate. Ross had said mate, that wasn't normal for him at all.  
“Mate? Are you, I don't know, taking something or-”  
“Shut up Lewis, I'm coming over. See you. In. A. Bit” Ross accentuated, pausing between words.  
“Bye then.” Lewis replied cheerily then the call ended.  
  
The drive to the strange chemist was a short one from Ross's apartment but he was all the way at Alex and Chris's beach house so it took way longer to get there than he expected. As the abandoned and rusting warehouse loomed into view, sealed off from the world by trees, rocks, and a huge mountain, Ross rolled up, parked, then walked up to the side door and knocked once. After a few seconds the door clicked, opened, and Lewis welcomed him in with a smile which turned to curiosity when Ross held up the meth from Trott and Smith.  
“I kinda need to know if it's good or not.” Ross explained with a sympathetic smile.  
“...Sure. Come on in.” Lewis said. As soon as Ross was inside he locked the door again. “It really has been ages since we last talked. How's the job going?”  
“Well, the Overlookers you know? You really can't say no to them.” Ross replied as he followed Lewis to his lab.  
“Hmm...” Was the only response he got from Lewis so Ross didn't say anything more.  
  
The term 'looks can be deceiving' applied heavily to Lewis's place. On the outside it was a rotting, old, abandoned warehouse but on the inside it was a completely different story.  
The walls were a dark blue with white spray dotted around (“to stop the rust” Lewis had said. The spray was glow in the dark.), and there was leather furniture, a plasma screen T.V, a pristine white tiled kitchen – there were no border walls to separate the warehouse, only on the bathroom. Soft lights hung from the high ceiling and the gangways above the open plan room had various wires and boxes on them.  
Lewis's lab was exactly the same: pristine, not sectioned off (if you don't count the floor tape) and the metal desks that held test tubes, syringes, and bottles of every colours liquid you could imagine. Ross handed the packet over to Lewis and watched as he pushed it under a microscope, then he dropped a blob of blue liquid into it and put it under the microscope once again before he poured a sample into a test tube with some red liquid which fizzed a little and placed the tube into a machine. A few more minutes of silence passed before the results of the scan popped up on the machine's screen. Lewis wrinkled his face in concentration and like all their meetings Ross stayed silent.  
“It's fake.” He concluded after some more painstaking minutes.  
“Okay, where does that leave us?”  
“I don't know, but it's fake. It missing something but I can't pick up the thing that it's missing and I don't know what it is, but it's fake.”  
“That's all well and good but-”  
“Where did it come from.”  
“I don't know, it's not mine and-”  
“Well I can test for that. Or we don't need to know, it's okay if we don't. If this batch is fake then anything else with it is, well, obviously fake.” Lewis said, walking back to the door Ross had entered through.  
“And...that's it?”  
“Yeah, that's it.” Lewis sighed, probably out of exhaustion. From previous conversations Ross had found out that he usually worked days and nights on end with no rest.  
“Well, thank you.”  
“It's no problem friend, I was making some of my own anyway. I just compared the batches. If you ever need anything just give me a ring.”  
“I will be sure to do that, good day.” Ross said as he walked out the door. He got out his phone and dropped a short text to Alex and Chris explaining that possibly all their drugs were fake and that he would meet them tomorrow. As Ross pulled into his garage Alex and Chris texted him back with a time and as he walked back up to his flat Ross sighed and shook his head with a small smile.  
“ _What the hell have I gotten myself into?_ ”

 

Ross, instead of watching the city grow dark as he usually would, instead laid on his bed. It had now been 10 days since he had been commanded to kill Smith and Trott and in those short 10 days Ross was already contemplating doing the exact opposite of this. Maybe it was the way Alex would run a hand through his hair or the way Chris would subconsciously bite his lips when he was concentrating or maybe it was because for the first time in a _very_ long time he trusted someone. They had indulged their drug trading business and he had told them about being an assassin. Which ever way you looked at it those specific bits of information were a safeguard because if one of them went to prison for going to the cops the other two would. Though many people wouldn't class this as safe, Ross did. It was strange, but a life of crime desensitised you to such situations and killing people even more so. Looking back over the 10 days Ross's apathetic attitude and tendency to distance himself from people had nearly done a complete 180. He _wanted_ to talk to Alex and Chris, he _wanted_ to spend time with them and he _wanted_ to keep them safe. It was strange, wanting to do something for someone else. For so long Ross had been alone and for those long days which turned to weeks, to months, to years Ross had almost completely stopped contacting anyone unless he was forced to and even then he hardly spoke. By trial and error he had learned that trusting people and making friends got you killed or got your emotions killed. But, with Trott and Smith it was different.  
If they had survived in the drug business up to now they could certainly keep themselves alive and as each minuted ticked by Ross was starting to like the idea of keeping them alive because for the first time in a very long time he actually had friends. He actually had people he really could trust.

It was at that moment, the moment it really sunk in that he had friends that the loudest explosion Ross had ever heard seized his head and his skin felt like it was being incinerated; the abrupt flash of heat turned his mind into a hazy blur that left a ring in his ears and burnt his breath and turned everything into a void of darkness.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Heh, chapter summary, get it?


	3. A friend in need

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ross awakes in the hospital and finds out his home is now with Trott and Smith which actually isn't much of a bad thing. Deciding to form a group, the trio take Ross's advice and plan a visit to one of Ross's old, old friend.

Ross awoke to the slow and steady beat of a heart monitor and the clinical smell of antibacterials. His head swam and opening his eyes blinded him with a white blur and he felt as though he was suffocating, but only for a fleeting second before he breathed in deeply then coughed, the force lifting him from the bed with a searing pain rushing down his throat to his lungs.  
“Ross!” A voice said in surprise, a voice that Ross recognised as Smith's. “Ross.” He said, this time quieter and Ross felt a hand tenderly brush over his arm. “Are you okay mate? Well, you're not okay but do you feel...okay?”  
All Ross could do was nod. It felt like ages but at the same time only a second and Ross managed to say, “Trott?”  
“He's out mate. We've been taking turns watching you.” Smith sighed, then continued, “The explosion was in the news, but we saw it happen and we saw you in the ambulance. We didn't know you lived in a skyscraper mate, you could've invited us!” He joked and Ross could practically hear the sad smile in his voice. “We were scared you wouldn't make it, but you got out of surgery fine. I'm just gonna go get a doctor, I promise I'll be right back.” Alex said quietly, and Ross was left alone with the increasingly annoying heart monitor.  
Ross could tell he had passed in and out of consciousness for quite a bit and it almost felt like he was dreaming. The beeps had now just become and ambient background noise.  
  
A patchwork of memories that Ross could recall seemed disjointed, like a puzzle that wouldn't work because it had too many of the wrong pieces.  
A doctor came in and asses him, looked at his eyes, took note of things with words that Ross couldn't fully understand, then, she was gone.  
“...Ross?” Smith said uncertainly.  
“Yeah?”  
“Why did it happen?” He asked, and as Ross inched his eyes open he could see that Smith's eyes were red and tired.  
“Not sure.”  
“I...-I don't like seeing you like this. It's not right.” Smith said, pulling his chair quietly to sit closer to Ross.  
“You look tired.”  
“Yeah, I am.” Alex whispered, as if his voice had escaped him. He swallowed hard then said, “The doctors say you'll be fine. There might be some scarring from the burns but other than that, no broken bones, no internal bleeding, nothing that could-” he breathed deeply, “-kill you.”  
“Can't get rid of me that easily.”Ross smiled. His throat felt better from talking a bit.  
“Haha, we don't want to mate.” Alex said and he leaned on the bed rail. “You'll need to stay with us for some time while you heal up.”  
“Thank you.” Ross said simply, and he meant it.  
“Why attack a skyscraper though...” Smith pondered aloud. Then it clicked, a theory that would make sense.  
“The Overlookers.” Ross said involuntarily.

“What?”  
“I...I need to tell you something, it's important-”  
“No, I don't want to know. Whatever business you had, that can wait. No talk of them until you're healed up.” Smith said. “I mean it. I'm putting a ban on talking about someone who could've possibly done this to you.”  
“What if-”  
“No. No talking about it okay?” Alex said sharply but with care in his words. Ross nodded and maybe it was a good thing he wasn't allowed to talk of them for now. He could get better and then tell them everything, about how he was sent to kill them and how he now knew he could never lay a finger on either of them.  
“Okay. When can we leave?” Ross asked, the pristine and foreign white that bragged illness made Ross feel like he was being caged in a quarantine unit.  
“Sorry mate, it's a minimum of 2 weeks. The burn aren't life threatening but they're still tender and need watching.”  
Ross nodded his acknowledgement. “When's Trott coming?”  
“Soon, I'll be here for this night and he'll arrive in the morning. He's worried too.”  
“Thank you for being here.”  
“We want to be here, for you and-”  
“No, no, I mean, _being_ here. I don't have a lot of people I care about but in the short time I've known you and Chris I've realised that I do care about you, both, and I'm thankful that you're both here for me.” It was a struggle but Ross managed to say it anyway. Alex lightly hovered a hand over an unbandaged part of Ross's arm.  
“We'll always be here for you Ross, always.”  
  


The weeks seemed to drag so much but at the same time each day flew by. The most Ross could do was read the various books he had requested and talk to Smith and Trott, all of his energy seemed sapped, as if the explosion had taken it and left him with nothing.  
Eventually he was let out with assorted charts and medicines from the hospital and as he finally walked of the hospital (albeit holding Trott's hand for support) Alex greeted them outside with a smile and a tender hug.  
“Ross! Now you're out of hospital you can see what we've done to the-” Alex started with enthusiasm but was interrupted by Trott.  
“Smith! It's a surprise Ross.”  
“Heh, yeah. Kinda forgot.” Smith laughed, running a hand through his hair, mussing it the way Ross had almost forgotten about but never missed.  
“A surprise, eh? Better get driving then. Or can we walk there?” Ross smiled, glad that he could breath in the fresh air that hadn't been recycled by air condition into a small hospital room.  
“If you wanna walk all the way to out little town near Chiliad then you go for it mate.” Alex laughed as they walked to a sleek silver matte car which Ross instantly recognised to be the Surge that Smith was very fond of. Chris helped Ross into the back then walked around to sit next to him while Smith started the engine.

  
Their journey was smooth and Ross could tell that Smith was being very careful with his driving and as they passed the usual route alongside the cost Ross smiled, happy to be back somewhere he wanted to be. Though his belongings had been reduced to ash and dust he wasn't too bothered, none of it really meant anything to him. He could buy it back if needs be, but for now the prospect of staying with Trott and Smith made him smile in anticipation of what they could do together.  
As they entered the small seaside town Ross expected Alex to slow down but he noticed a 'For Sale' sign stood in the garden of the beach house. Trott smiled slyly and Smith turned up the volume of the radio, his voice still managing to sound better than whoever had sung the original. It was only a few minutes later that they slowed down and Smith pulled over onto the side of the road in front of a house.   
  
A medium sized garden that was mowed and short with a few flowers that decorated the edge of the high walls surrounded a quaint little house. The steps going up to the level the house was on were decorated with stone pillars and the house itself was clean with new paintwork and by the look of it new doors and windows too.  
“We've extended it but the planning policy only allowed one extra bedroom. We can swap around each day, shag each other-” Alex teased with an easy smile.  
“I like it. No, in fact, I love it.” Ross beamed.   
“Really?” Chris asked, “I mean, it's nothing like Eclipse...” But he trailed off when he saw that Ross was looking at him incredulously.  
“I don't really mind where we are as long as you're here, god, this is making me sentimental...” Ross said, following Alex into the house.  
  
The grand tour #2 was like the first, there weren’t many differences between the old house and this one except for the new bedroom. Before Ross knew it the sky had grown black and he was yawning even though it was only 10 pm. After being ushered into a bedroom he was joined by Smith. The three of them had agreed that Ross needed to be near and with someone until he was fully healthy because one of the many charts proclaimed that death was very possible (even though Ross was completely fine, he said anyway). As Ross settled down into the covers he sighed in relief and some pain as he rested slowly onto his side. The mattress dipped as Alex laid down next to him and Ross had a fleeting thought of hugging him which he immediately put down.  
“Good night Ross.” Smith said and Ross felt him boop his nose.  
“Hah, good night Smith.” He replied, fake pushing his hand away.  
As he started to drift Ross felt the usual numbness where his burns were fade slightly to give way to itchy and hot peeling skin. The burns were shallow but widespread and Ross had been told that they might scar some places but the oxycodone was working it's magic and the pain was slowly fading away.  
  
As Ross reflected on the two weeks he had spent in hospital he realised that for him most of it was a blur; fading in and out of consciousness while various doctors flitted in and out of his room but for Smith and Trott who he knew had been swapping around bedside vigils it was certainly not as easy for them to just fall asleep as it was for him.  
He hoped that with creams and some stitches he wouldn't get any scarring, but that thought led him to question why the apartment block blew up in the first place.  
  
Obviously he had to do some investigating but Ross knew for certain that the explosion was meant for him, not to kill, but to injure. The people on the level below him were relatively unscathed which meant the bomb was small; meant to harm a small area and that area only. As well as that Ross knew that the division he worked for was run by someone with a short temper and changed their mind a lot so maybe he was indicating that he wanted some information that Ross had...but on the other hand they could have just sent someone to collect the information. It all confused Ross but he didn't dwell on it and instead he drifted off to sleep.  
  
The next day Ross brought up what he was thinking and even though he knew Smith was glaring at him Ross knew it was out of care, not hate. As they sat at the kitchen table he tried to convince Alex and Chris to listen to him.  
“Look, we need to get to the bottom of this. We need to-”  
“Ross, please, we don't need to do anything, you need to rest and-” Smith cut in, pushing himself up to walk to the window.  
“No, we don't need to but I do. And I will. I'm going to find out who hurt me and I'm going to make them pay.” Ross retorted. He knew what he could do, he just needed some help.  
“Ross you can't do anything until you're healthy.” Trott said, holding his hand lightly.  
“I know, but if whoever did this knows I'm here you could both get hurt and I don't want that.” Ross replied quietly.  
“Smith, he has a point-”  
“Yeah, he does, that doesn't mean I like it!” He said, raising his voice only to pull it back down as he finished speaking.  
“Alex.” Trott said, a plea in his voice. “Don't let this happen again.”  
Immediately Ross was lost and whatever had happened between them before apparently applied to the situation they found themselves in now.  
“Don't.” Alex whispered, turning to face them both.  
“No, you did this before and we will not do it again.” Chris said, standing up to Smith.  
“But-”  
“Stop. I got out fine last time but you didn't. You say you're fine but you wont talk about it and this could happen to Ross too and I care about him. You care about him. Why are you doing this to Ross? Why are you doing this to yourself _again_?” Trott shouted, choking as he finished.  
“I...-I, Chris, I don't know, I'm- I'm scared, okay? Scared of everything!” Alex admitted with a stammer. “I'm scared.”  
The silence that developed around them was suffocating and Ross watched as Smith sat down and hunched over the table.“Don't be.” Ross spoke up. “I don't know what's happened to you before, I don't know if it warrants a 'don't be scared', but I'm here. I have experience and I don't want to know what's happened if you don't want me to, but I will always be here.”  
“Ross-”“No, Alex. Listen to me. Whatever is happening, I'm here. Chris is here. We, as a three, will always be safe, okay? What happens concerns me and much as it does you two and I promise you this, I will keep you both safe.”  
“It haunts me.” Alex whispered, and as he lifted his head a tear fell down his cheek.  
“We used to have another member of our group. It was just us two before he came along, and we helped him you know?” Chris started, stroking Smith's hair slowly. “Turns out he was working for a rival gang and had us captured. He tried to... he...”  
“Tried to kill us.” Alex finished plainly.  
“We got away but not without a scar. Ever since we've been careful of who we let in-” Trott stared but Smith cut him off.  
“And I'll lever forgive myself because I suggested he join us. I gave Trott that scar, it was my-”  
“No.” Ross said, making Smith look up at him. “No, you didn't give him the scar, the traitor did. Realise that, forgive, forget, then move on.”  
“How can I? How could I live with myself-”  
“Because that's the life of crime mate. You'll get no justice except peace of mind. I have my own scars, though they're psychological and now I might have these ones to add to my collection. I don't regret anything I do and neither should you.” Ross explained.  
“Why would you think like that, how the hell-”  
“Alex, he has a point. You're not going to be much help with that frame of mind...” Trott stated but Smith had already begun to stand up to leave. Before he did Ross pulled him into a hug.  
“Trust me, I _know_.”

 

“If we're going to become a group, if were going to do this, we need to know a few things about you Ross, well, two things specifically.” Smith started. A nod from Ross encouraged him to go on. “To start we need to know who you work for, or rather used to work for.”  
“I'm a freelance assassin, I never had a specific person I worked for.” Ross said as he sat next to Trott on the sofa.  
“Okay, any aliases we need to know about?”  
“...I have one I didn't ever want. If anyone asks for me they as for the 'Unknown sniper'.”  
“Wait, you're...?” Trott asked, trailing off wide eyes as Ross nodded.  
“Okay...wow. Okay.” Smith breathed. “So...I know Trott doesn't have any problems with you joining us...I don't either.”  
“Really? I don't want you to feel uncomfortable.” Ross said, but Smith just shook his head.  
“Well, Trott and I have talked about it and we feel comfortable with you being part of our group. We want you to join us.”  
“See, he only wants you because he thinks you give good head.” Trott joked, laughing at Smith's scowl.  
“It's because he's tired of being a bottom mate.” Smith said to Ross, sniggering as Trott blushed.  
“Shut it Smith.” He said, kicking his legs up to rest on the coffee table.  
“Nah, we all know it's true mate...anyway, we need to sort out some plans. Ross, you got contacts?”  
“Yes. What we need to do first is get info on what type of explosive it was, where it came from and if possible who set it. I know a guy, you also might want to meet him.”  
“Sure, but you still can't go out-” Smith protested, but Ross knew time was of the essence.  
“Of course I can.”  
“Smith, we'll go. Not now of course, Ross, arrange a meeting for tomorrow.” Trott said.  
“Sure. The guy's the best at what he does.” Ross replied as he got out his phone while walking to the kitchen; the reception was better in there.  
“Smith, help me check over our deals for this week.” Trott said. Smith nodded and followed him upstairs.  
  
That night, with everything set up, counted, checked and checked twice Ross felt somewhat better about the situation. As he laid with Trott staring at the ceiling it occurred to him that he would rather be here than alone in what was his flat. The double bed in the bigger bedroom was the once Ross had been permanently delegated while he was recovering and a perk of this was that it was always comfortably warm. Both Trott and Smith had complained about how cold the other room was so it hardly surprised Ross to hear the bedroom door open softly and in the dark Ross could make out the outline of Smith.  
“You cold?” He whispered; Trott's soft snoring didn't mask the chattering of Smith's teeth.  
“Yeah, move over mate.” Smith whispered back and as Ross shuffled over to lay on his side. He felt the mattress dip as Smith climbed in and it was slightly cramped but not once did Smith knock the burns on his arms or chest. Ross could feel his back press against Trott who shifted in his sleep and they stayed like that until Ross heard Smith's light snored join Trott's. He draped an arm over Smith's side so he wouldn't be elbowing Trott in the back.  
“Night Smith.”

 

As the sunlight tapped at his face Ross stumbled awake though he denied himself the right to open his eyes. He could feel Smith's hand, their fingers were twined together so at some point Alex had woken and done that. Also, Ross could feel that Trott's arm was draped over his side. Just those simple things, the way they had slept even though Ross knew they were friends, it sparked something inside himself. From the first time they had spoken Ross had been much more open to them than he had anyone else and it felt okay to be. He liked them, but maybe he liked them just that bit more than he would fully admit to himself.

Beside him, Smith moved, groaned softly then must have real] he was holding Ross's hand and at first he moved away and made to let go but he stopped and sighed and it sounded contented.   
“Guess I'm waking up first...” He muttered to himself then Ross felt him place a tender kiss on his forehead. “Bout time, I was starting to think he'd never... Trott really...” Smith muttered more and Ross couldn't fully make out what Smith was saying but he felt his heart flutter for a reason he didn't really understand; but he did.  
As Smith left and Ross heard the kettle start boiling he knew he should question it, so he followed Smith out of bed and joined him in the kitchen. Ross sat silently for a while as Smith made them both some toast and a cup of tea each, contemplating his feelings.  
He knew he liked both Alex and Chris much more than he would a normal person he considered a friend, but felt the same about both of them, not just one of them.  
“Ross mate, it's too early to think. I can see you thinking and you need to stop.” Smith smiled, moving to hold Ross's hand.  
“I'm conflicted.” Ross said simply and Smith's smile turned into a knowing one.  
“I see. You'll be safe with us, we promise.” Smith assured, but that's not what Ross wanted assurance about.  
“No..or yes? I've only known you all of 7 weeks-”  
“Which is just more than a month-”  
“”And...well...I think I trust you both.” Ross admitted and it was true. He did ignore his feelings because he couldn't trust them but if they knew he trusted them life would be somewhat easier.  
“Trust us...” Smith said thoughtfully. “We trust you too.”  
“Thank you.” Ross said simply. He would have to figure out what he felt before he committed himself fully so he didn't bring it up. It was definitely something, but that something wasn't big at all.  
“What time to we have to visit the guy?” Alex asked as he sipped his tea.  
“10 o'clock. We should wake Trott up.”  
“Yeah... give him a few more minutes though.”  
Ross nodded and finished his toast.  
"You never told us his name." Alex stated, eyes on Ross.  
"His name is Ridge."

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next time we find out exactly who ridge is and what he can do for the hat trio.


	4. Plans and points

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> We finally meet Ridge, but does he have the best information to give Ross, Trott and Smith?   
> Meanwhile, the trio meet two new guys who have the perfect distraction that will land the small group with a plan that could either go right or it could go so wrong.

Ridge's home was extremely flamboyant to say the least. The impressive high marble towers that Ross coveted stretched into the sky, supporting a charcoal tilled roof. This marble / charcoal combo that Ross desired wrapped around the building and the dark framed high windows were pristine and glowed in the early sunshine.  
That was what you saw first, and as the three approached the magnificent building Smith and Trott gasped as the ornate golden gates crawled into view between the lush trees that surrounded Ridge's property. Ross instructed Smith to wait by the gates as he stepped out of the car (not wanted to lean out in case he irritated the burns) and called the mansion.  
“Hello?” A voice answered, and of course Ross had to bite back a laugh. For all the people who feared Ridge and gave him the reputation he had, he didn't live up to his intimidating personality through his voice.  
“Ridge, how you doing mate?”  
“Oh, Ross! I'm doing good, come one in!” He replied and Ross could feel the smile in his voice.  
The call box cut of and Ross got back in the car, pointing out where Smith should drive.  
The huge charcoal doors opened and an intimidating tall brown haired man stepped out with a huge, goofy smile on his face. Ross noted Ridge's goatee and wondered why he had changed from his usual beard to that, but it suited him so Ross didn't question it.  
“Ross! This must be Alex and Chris!” He welcomed as the three stepped out of the car.  
“Hi, just call me Smith.” Smith said, shaking Ridge's hand.  
“Hello, call me Trott mate.” Trott said as he too shook Ridge's hand.  
“Those burns do not look good, come inside and we'll discuss some stuff.” Ridge said excitedly. “It's been too long since I've had people over this is really exciting.”  
Following Ridge into the foyer, Ross, although he was somewhat used to the grandeur still marvelled at the chiselled patterned marble on the ceiling, entranced by how the marble melted sinuously into the walls .  
“Go sit down, I got some new comfy couches and they're really springy. I'm gonna go get some drinks and stuff.” Ridge said and Ross branched off to the room he always found himself pulled to and smiled as he looked back and saw the awe of both his friend's faces.  
“Great, isn't it?” Ross said as he pushed open the white glass double door into the large sitting room, and Ridge was true to his word when he said the new sofas were springy. They were a rich ivory colour which fit in well with the dark carpet and white walls. Ridge came back with a tray of various drinks, sighed as he sat down, then started talking.  
“So of course I know where you live Ross, not in a creepy way though, and I saw in the news that the block had been attacked but all the articles I read didn't say whether you were alive or not. I did go through the nearest hospital files and saw you were alive but I anticipated that you would want to know who did it and would come to me – guys! I brought out these drinks for a reason. The whiskey is truly amazing, I recommend that, it's 'GlenGrant Single Malt'. The beer is 'Sculpin IPA', it's got a subtle tang, I know Ross likes that one. Anyway, I did some digging and I found...nothing.”   
“Nothing?” Ross echoed in confusion.  
“Nothing.” Ridge confirmed. “No DNA, no trance explosives, no...anything!” He stood up and lazily paced the room. “I feel like I maybe missed something big the first time I went through the rubble but I couldn't find anything that might hint who did it, so I'm thinking it could be-”  
“The Overlookers.” Trott said.  
“Yes. I would suspect them and The Professionals but they've been lying low since The Overlookers took over.” Ridge replied, holding his glass of whiskey to eye level, almost as it held the answers he needed.  
“So we're certain it's The Overlookers then. Why would they target Ross specifically?” Smith asked.  
“Oh he didn't tell you?” Ridge smiled slyly and in that instant Ross's heart stopped, he had completely forgotten he had a contract to kill the two people who sat either side of him.  
“Ridge...” Ross warned but it fell on deaf ears.  
“He is to assassinate two people by the threat division directors commands.” Ridge said and although Ross knew he wasn't out of the clear he knew Ridge understood why a bomb had exploded in his flat.  
“That's not too bad...well, we don't need to know. Were not getting involved with anything related to the Overlookers-” Trott said but he stopped when Ridge shook his head.  
“Oh, you're involved now.”  
“I always was and I never intended to dray these two into this mess and I'm sorry for that.” Ross apologised, “but now we know who we're dealing with I think we should get to what out meeting is actually about.” Ross announced. He hated keeping Alex and Chris out of the loop and he shot them an apologetic smile as he stood up and interrupted Ridge's pacing. “We need to take down The Overlookers.”  
“What?” Ridge snapped, his small grin immediately turning to a grimace. “We can not do that.”  
“Yes, we can!” Ross argued. “We! We create our own group, more than a group, our own gang-”  
“You're only proposing that to save your skin from they commanded of you.” Ridge retorted.  
“So you don't want to take them down? How does it feel to be stripped of knowing who set a bomb off, eh? Does that not bother you?” Ross spat, levelling up to Ridge.  
“Of course it does. Who do you propose we hire?” Ridge smiled, and Ross knew it had been a test of sorts. The man always confused him with the way he did things.  
“Wait, wait, what-” Smith started but Ross murmured, “Go with it.” So Smith stopped and listened to Ridge.  
“Those two are our starting point. We'll get them trained with guns and other stuff, I can get some trusted guys in, we'll need Lewis, not his wife though. She works for The Overlookers, she lies to him when he asks.”  
“Who?” Ross questioned, how Ridge got this info he could never begin to understand.  
“Hannah, ivory white hair, short-ish, usually wears suits when she's on jobs, you've met before, once I believe.” Ridge replied, nodding along with Ross to confirm it.  
“Lewis could be sketchy but we will need him.”  
“William Strife, he lays low but he has connections.” Smith added, Trott humming in agreement.  
“He gotten us out of some situations before.” Trott affirmed.  
“Ah yes, I know of him. We've never spoken though.” Ridge noted. “I know of a small group, 4 guys: Kogie, Sparks, Parv and Leo, they're great at getting info – not as good as me obviously but I can't be in 3 places at once.” Ridge mused.  
“3 places?” Trott asked, giving Ridge a confused smile when Ridge laughed.  
“Yeah, funny story actually, I'll tell you it some time. The only other guy I can think of at the moment who we can trust is Turps, he's an amazing driver. Drivers are under rated I think.” Ridge thought aloud, sitting back down, as did Ross.  
“This is a death wish.” Trott disagreed, rolling his eyes as Ridge laughed once again.  
“So? Were gonna do it anyway. I like to stare death in the face and laugh as it bows down to me.”  
“Stop with the dramatics mate.” Smith joked. “Seriously though, we gonna do this?”  
“Of course we are, it's gonna be so much fun! I'll get some custom weapons ordered while we recruit our members and we'll start training you up.” Ridge beamed, “I'll contact everyone though. We need to keep this under wraps and I have a lot more influence because people know who I am. No offence intended Ross, but I do.”  
“I know, I'd rather it be that way.” Ross replied with a smile as he stood up. He had talked to the man enough to know when their conversations ended. Trott and Smith stood too and began to walk to the door, chatting with Ridge who led them out.  
“I'll see you in...a week's time?” Ridge proposed as he walked out to the porch with them.  
“Sounds good mate.” Trott answered.  
“Okay, well, I'll see you guys then! Bye!”  
“Good day!” Ross called, beside him Trott and Smith echoed him with waves.

“We have the rest of the day free.” Trott stated.  
“Yep, all day. I reckon we should go up Chiliad.” Ross said. The looming mountain in the distance look perfect for death defying runs down it.  
“What, walk?” Smith asked with a tone of repulse.  
“No, take bikes or something then race back down.”  
“Are you serious! That'll get us killed!” Trott objected in disbelief, wide eyed as Ross laughed.  
“Nah, I've done it before, it's amazing, you get the best adrenalin rush.”  
“Ross, that was when you weren’t burned to a crisp-”  
“I'm not 'burned to a crisp' Smith, it's just a bit raw-”  
“No, we'll wait until you're better.” Trott declared to Ross's dismay.  
“Aww, but, Smith tell him!”  
“Sorry, I'm with him on this one. Also, do you need to pick up some more cream from the chemist or are you good?”  
“I'm good for a while. The burns aren't deep, just...” But Ross trailed off into a sigh. There was no getting past it.

As the three instead detoured to spend the day on a small abandoned woodland trail, (“Birds 'n shit” Ross had said.) Ross started to notice things that maybe he was exaggerating. Trott's hand that lingered in his as he helped Trott out of the car, Smith's arm that brushed his comfortably as they walked and his smile that only grew as Ross and Trott joked around. It was these little things that were beginning to make Ross's heart jump a little at their every touch and smile at everything Trott and Smith said.  
Ross wanted to talk about it, but every time he thought to bring it up his words got caught on his throat so he pushed them down with a smile and ignored them, as always.  
“Okay, so, the real reason were here is not to walk, it's to practise. Sniping to be exact.” Ross said as he opened the boot of their car and pulled out a sniper rifle, extra cartridges, and a scope/silencer combo. “I'm gonna teach you the way of the rifle.”  
“Lets go for it then!” Smith said as he took the rifle from Ross.  
“Not here though right?” Trott asked, he too took the cartridges from Ross.  
“No, we can head to that hill over there. I'm guessing there's wildlife here we can practise on.”  
“I mean, I can't really believe it. I've never fired a gun before this is gonna be so much fun!” Smith smiled.  
“I have, but it was only a small pistol. Plus, Smith's more of an explosions guy.”  
“C4 it up mate.” Smith said with a laugh through gritted teeth.

Ross, out of habit, checked they weren’t being followed and quickened their pace a little. It had been too long since any rifle was in his hands and being fired. Their short walk was full of constant innuendos and dick jokes that made Ross think he was getting a six pack and all too soon they had arrived at the base of the hill they had pointed out. Stopping beneath a tree the three sat down as Ross instructed and watched as he loaded the rifle.  
Ross then stood up, sighted some birds in the sky, scoped and tracked one that seemed almost alone in the sky. He didn't hesitate to shoot it.  
“Hesitation causes accidents.” He said as the bird fell as gracefully as the woman he had shot a month earlier.  
“Right then, my turn.” Trott said standing up.  
“Okay. Nestle the end in you're shoulder, yeah, near you're chest like this” Ross pressed up against Trott, nearer than he had to, pushing his body flush with Trott's. “...steady your breathing, breath slow and shallow, track the bird you've chosen...then shoot.” Ross commanded. He didn't expect Trott to hit anything and wasn't surprised when the birds split off and none fell.  
“Ah dammit.”  
“It's fine, I missed the first shot I fired too.” Ross said, but that wasn't true and the way Smith raised an eyebrow at him shouted that Smith didn't believe a word of it.  
“Reload and go again.” Ross said, “I'm gonna sit down with Smith though. I don't want the sun to burn my burns.” He laughed, moving to rest with Smith in the shade of the tree. Smith's leg was against his and Ross would be lying if he said he hadn't moved just a bit closer to Smith.  
It was some time before Trott hit a bird, the black dot in the sky falling as it's friends scattered as many had done before.  
“I got it! Fuck yeah. Smith, go hit something, I'm getting a right bruise from the recoil.” Trott smiled, handing the rifle over to Smith.  
“Ross?”   
“Yes Smith?”  
“How do I hold it again?”  
Chuckling, Ross stood up and helped Smith position it just as he had with Trott except Smith was taller and Ross had to lean his head on Smith's shoulder.  
“Breath slowly...I said slowly Smith.” Ross said.  
“It's hard when you're right next to me with your cock on my arse mate...” Smith whispered so quietly that Ross was sure he wasn't meant to hear it. His heart jumped and he had to swallow before he talked Smith through the rest of the procedure.  
When Smith had the basics down Ross joined Trott under the tree and watched as Smith fired until he hit a bird. Ross could see Smith's muscles move underneath his tight shirt and tighten when he fired. Smith lowered the gun as the three watched the small black bird float down to the earth and Ross called it a triumph. Trott complained he was hungry and as the three walked back to the car they walked a little closer, hands brushing every now and then.  
Ross allowed himself a guilty smile, then put the gun into the boot of the car.  
“Ross, how many birds did you hit while showing us how to fire again?” Smith asked as he pulled out onto the road.  
“10.”  
“No way.” Trot scoffed, shaking his head while he looked out of the window.  
“I fired 10 bullets, I hit 10 birds.” Ross defended. He knew he had, he didn't need to count.  
“That good of a sniper, eh?” Smith asked.  
“I'm the 'Unknown Sniper'! I'm the best!” Then Ross half shouted, “How dare you?!” In the highest voice he could muster.  
“Jesus, stop that-”  
“How -how dare you!” He shouted again with mock offence.  
“He's wrong and he knows it. It's how he defends himself.” Smith laughed as Ross just screeched loudly.  
“Ross! I'm sat right next to you-”  
“Trott! How dare-”  
“No.”  
“HOW DARE YOU!” Ross shouted once more before the three dissolved into laughter.  
The sky was a dark void by the time Ross, Smith and Trott arrived home and instantly the three made for bed. Ross as always was sharing, this time with Trott, but as he got ready, rubbed cream on his burns, got dressed and laid down he was much more awake than he had been just minutes before.  
Trott flicked out the lights and got changed in the dark, (by changed Ross knew Trott would just sleep in his boxers) and when he laid down Ross could tell he was facing him.  
“Ross? What's it like...to kill...someone?” He asked hesitantly, whispering into the dark.  
“Do you want the honest answer or the one that I want to give you?” Ross replied. Scaring Trott wasn't something he wanted to do.  
“Tell me.”  
“You never truly forget how the bullet sounds as you fire it, how the person just...falls...just, drops as if they were a puppet and you cut their strings. You never forget how their blood pools around them, or how it splatters over the people around them. The screams haunt you, mock you and even to this day I can still feel the first bullet I fired go off in my head and how the first person I shot- it took three shots to kill them. I didn't give them a merciful death.”  
“That's why you were so disconnected when we first met you.”  
“...yeah. I found it was easier to ignore my feelings and not feel at all than to go over the faces of the people I've killed. I once said I never regretted it, but I know deep down that I always will regret every time I robbed someone of their life.” Ross whispered, and for the first time in a long time a tear fell down his cheek.  
Almost as if Trott knew it was there he carefully swiped it away.  
“I know how you feel. Smith doesn't know, but I've killed someone before.” Trott paused to breath deeply, then continued. “When we started out, business was sketchy, the people were sketchy and we got some bad people involved with us. Smith was drugged, his drink- he drank a bit, just a sip, then fell. I knew then that the same would probably happen to me if I drank too, and one of the guys walked in, just one. He had a crowbar and gloated about what he would do to me and Smith and just like that I had my pistol out and he- he-” But Trott stopped, choking on a sob.  
“Chris...come here.” Ross whispered, embracing Trott as silent sobs racked his body.  
“I didn't mean to pull the trigger but I did mean to and-” But another sob stopped him from talking.  
“Trott...come here. Is there any way I can help.” Ross whispered as Trott dipped his head onto his chest.  
“I don't know...it's stupid that I'm crying over – I shouldn't – I can't...” But he shook his head as words failed him.  
“Have you tried to talk to Alex about it?”  
“No, I don't think I could.”  
“You kept him safe though. The cost of one life for another is high but do you care for him?” Ross asked, stroking Trott's hair. He felt him nod. “Then it was worth everything and more.”  
After some time Trott's sobs calmed down and his breathing turned to normal.  
“Thank you.” He whispered.

Ross stayed up thinking about what had just happened.  
Questions flitted through his mind, Why did Trott come to me first? Why can't he talk about it to Smith? The fact that Trott could talk to Ross on such an emotional level flattered him but it had Ross thinking about how close the three really were. When Ross wanted to push away his emotions (and he knew he did it) he used their actual names, not their nicknames. It felt less personal to him, it made him able to deal with the situation, but he knew that wasn't the case with Trott.  
Maybe they needed to talk, maybe they needed to be more open and honest. Ross wanted to know everything about them, wanted to know their favourite colour to the way they reacted to how he hugged them, he wanted to know everything and even though he felt they were blocking him he knew they were all just blocking each other.   
A life of crime does that, makes you so vulnerable that letting someone in and possibly hurting them or getting hurt was the worst thing you could probably do but Ross yearned to be with them all the time, to look at them and smile because he knew they were safe with him, to be with them.  
As he drifted to sleep he rested his head on Trott's and hoped that maybe one day he would know.  
He would know.

Ross woke to the shrill alarm of his phone only to realise it wasn't his alarm and rather it was someone calling him. He groped around on the bedside table and grabbed his phone. He didn't recognise the number.  
“'Ello?” He half groaned, Trott sighing irritability beside him.  
“Ross. I can get two more guys in, they go by the names 'Sips' and 'Sjin'”  
“You got a new phone.” Ross acknowledged and Ridge's exasperated sigh reverberated from his phone.  
“Yes, Ross, keep up-”  
“It's too early, call me back later.” Ross said and ended the call. He then turned of his phone. “That was ridge.” He muttered as Trott pressed back up to him.  
“Do we have to get up.” Trott murmured.  
“Not yet.” Ross replied but the morning sun was already beckoning him.  
He stayed with Trott for a while, just laying and listening to him breath until the smell of bacon and eggs pulled them both from the lull of sleep.  
As they both shuffled into the kitchen where Smith was cooking. He turned to smile at them and as Ross flicked the switch to the kettle and grabbed some cups Trott flopped onto a chair and rested his head on the table.  
“Morning guys.” Smith said cheerily. He was already dressed and he hummed a tune which Ross thought suited a morning (though he didn't recognise the song) and he plated Trott's up first, coaxing him to sit up and eat. Ross brought their tea over and sat down as Smith places eggs, bacon, toast and some beans in front of him.  
“Eat up, we got a big day ahead of us.” He explained with a smile.  
“A day of what?” Trott yawned as he began to eat.  
“Were going to do some stuff.” Smith announced with a grin.  
“That pretty ambiguous.” Ross remarked as he sipped his too hot tea.  
“Well, really, Ridge just called me, told me to tell you that you're an arsehole,” Smith pointed at Ross, “and that the two new guys would meet us at the Los Santos Country Club. Ridge has pulled us a job that's gonna get Lewis on our side for good.”  
“He thinks you're good enough for a job?” Ross asked curiously.  
“Well, he said that you'd take care of us enough but if we want to do this we need training. It's all good, we just need to be there at 12 on the dot.”  
“Sure, stop talking now.” Trott muttered as Ross chuckled at him and Smith dug into his food.

12 seemed to roll around too fast for Ross liking but as he Trott and Smith approached Rockford Plaza he knew it was for a good reason. Ridge's had given them a brief description of Sjin and Sips: a tall brown bearded man and a smaller dark haired pale man with dark stubble. Both would be in suits, Ridge had said that the two men were strange in their 'unique' ways, and spotting them was easy. They were leaned casually on a low wall and stood up as the three approached them

“Hello, you must be Ross, Chris, and Alex. Nice to meet you!” The brown one smiled as he held out a hand to shake each of them as they neared.  
“Hey guys.” The smaller darker one drawled, lazily shaking their hands.  
“Hi, it's great to meet you. Just call me Smith.” Smith said as the five started a slow walk around the park.  
“Yeah, just call me Trott.”  
“Well, I'm all for introductions and all – I'm Sips, he's Sjin - but we do have to talk about business.”  
“Now now Sips, were going to be working with these guys, let's get to know them a little.”  
“Well, yeah, that makes sense.”  
“You guys good at anything?” Sips asked, Sjin just shook his head with a smile.  
“Well, were good at drug trades.” Smith said with a sly smile as he looked over at Trott.  
“International drug trades he means.” Trott added with a grin.  
“So you know how to keep quiet, lay low, that good.” Sjin commented as Sips nodded along.  
“Ross? What about you?” Sips asked.  
“I'm an assassin, actually, I'm the 'Unknown Sniper'.” He replied with a proud smile. Beside him Sjin gasped quietly and Sips had a slightly shocked expression on his face.  
“Wow...well, Ridge did say we were working with a great team.” Sjin said, shielding his eyes from the glitter of the sun on the clear pool that they were now walking along.  
“Well, I'm a good aim and I create the best distractions,” Sips said, “usually I just make obscure movie references 'till the other person gets bored.”  
“I'm a better distraction-”  
“No you're not.”  
“But together out best stalling time was, what d'you reckon it was Sips?”  
“Must've been a good 2 and half hours.”  
“We pulled of an amazing heist and got out without the police even knowing we where there.” Sjin boasted as Sips smiled beside him.  
“That is amazing.” Trott echoed, “you're the distraction team then.”  
“Oh yes, were the best.” Sips confirmed. “Even those old guys in suits from the playboy mansions that double cross their buyers don't have shit on us, don't have shit.”  
“I'm sure they're richer.” Smith contested with a smile.  
“I don't care Smiffy, all were here to do is distract people.”  
“He means that in the best way.” Sjin added with an apologetic smile.  
“I don't mean to rush us, but we have a job?” Trott said. “This golf course doesn't go on forever.”  
“Ah, yes. I'm glad you asked.” Sjin replied. “We need major cash, right? Well, we've taken a small amount of stocks with Bank Of Liberty, just 50 each. and Sips and I have been invited to a small gathering.”  
“But, we've actually taken large amounts of stocks out from Maze Bank, Sjin and I have invested in 100 shares each actually. At the gathering there are two guys who need taking out.” Sips continued.  
“We need to be there so officials don't suspect we killed them. The two guys are large operations bosses and without them the Bank Of Liberty will be panicked for a bit, their stocks go down, Maze Bank's stocks sky rocket and we get hard cash.” Sjin finished.  
“Will the guys be standing together?” Ross asked, already thinking about where he could snipe from.  
“Hopefully we can get into a conversation with them both at the same time. Is it easier to snipe them like that?” Sjin replied with genuine curiosity.  
“Yes, two shots in close concession, not a problem.” Ross said. “I can scout out a good position tomorrow, or today if you need me to.”  
“The gathering is in two days time. You'll also need to get out of there fast too, but you know that of course.” Sips added.  
“I can get him out.” Smith said. “We can park a motorcycle near where you'll snipe from, you come down, I'll get you out.”  
“We will need an alibi just in case though. Usually it's been me on my own sniping but we need to cover all areas.” Ross stated, looking to Trott.  
“I'll be the alibi, we'll get some stuff sorted out.” Trott replied.  
“The it's settled!” Sjin celebrated. “And in time too, we've done a loop of the club and-” Sjin started but ws cut of by Sips.  
“Sjin!” Sips defended. “I'm the one who says bye. Ahem, and in time too, we've done a loop of the club and everything is settled. It's gonna be a big day, you're gonna ice some fools, were gonna get big money. It's nice doing business with you guys.” Sips announced as Sjin rolled his eyes with a smile.  
“Nice doing business with you too.” Smith said, and each of the three shook Sjin and Sips' hands and waved as they left.  
“Let's go scout of the Bank Of Liberty then!” Trott exclaimed. “I'm so excited, it's the first ever job. I know I don't have a big part, but I'm pretty excited all the same.”  
“Yeah? Wait 'till the day.” Ross smiled. “Wait 'till the day.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I promise the next chapter has smut, I promise!
> 
> Also, I'm looking for some beta readers! If you think you'd be up to the job or would like to be a beta reader go here - snowy-berry.tumblr.com and send me an ask, mail, or submission about it!  
> Thanks!


	5. Come close, closer still

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> As feelings are recognised within the trio things heat up and get a little bit steamy...

“I'm in position.” Ross spoke into his phone. Through his scope he saw Sips and Sjin, both dressed finely in smart suits, nod slightly. Sips put his phone into his pocket and presumably invited the two Bank Of Liberty bosses to view the city from the huge window in the glittering skyscraper opposite Ross.

Ross himself was positioned on top of a similar skyscraper. Its windows were darker than most around it and it was plainly just a block of offices to hire. He had set up a stand on the ledge of the top edge of the building and only had to tilt his scope up a little to view the large building on the other side of Vespucci boulevard. He knew Smith was waiting with a green Akuma (at Smith's request) in the alley below. There was a ladder that Ross had attached a pair of couples to so he could slide down easily. They were his design actually, a U bracket on its side with a metal wheel between the adjustable gap of the bracket and ladder. The handles let him hold on as he steadied himself with his feet and let him flow down the ladder, great for fast getaways.

Ross slowed his breathing and rested against his rifle. Through his scope we watched Sjin, Sips, and the two men walk up to the window. Sjin subtly looked to Ross, a slight shift of his eyes, smiled slightly with an almost unnoticeable nod then turned back to join the conversation.

Ross lined up the first man, he had a red tie while his companion had a green one, and then Ross shifted to focus on the green tie man. It was a small repeatable shift, and Ross centred back on the red tie guy, let out his breath and shot. His heart beat flooded his ears and the recoil pushed him back a little as it always did. To Ross, it felt like he was truly coming home.

The glass shattered like a spider's web and the man fell to the floor, tipping over backwards as Sips looked like he was shouting and calling (as planned) the police. Ross did a quick fire reload as Sjin stalled the second guy by pretending to hide him from the view of his dead companion. The green tie guy had moved which was slightly annoying but Ross moved his scope accordingly and in Sjin's arms the green guy fell, forced backwards by the head shot, blood and brains splattering over Sjin. Sjin played the part of screaming well, (or as much as Ross could see from a different building) and several people escorted Sips and Sjin away from the window.

Ross picked up his rifle and stand, latched them onto back and ran to the ladder. He swung himself over the railing, grabbed the couplets and slid down the ladder. He could feel the heat from the friction uncomfortably on his hands and feet but he heard Smith rev the bike and Ross slowed down by clamping his feet closer on the ladder.

Ross jumped off comfortably and disconnected the couplets, jumped onto the back of the bike and laughed as he felt the wind caress his face. The rush of adrenalin this time was much more than it ever had been for Ross but then again he had never fled from the scene at 70 mph with another person who was laughing with him.

“That's a great rush mate!” Smith called to him mid laugh and Ross pushed himself flush with Smith's back.

“It's a fucking amazing rush!” Ross shouted as he leant into Smith's shoulder for a sharp turn. He could feel Smith shaking beneath him as he laughed.

Ross took out his phone and sent Trott a quick text, “safe”, and slipped it back into his pocket. He pushed himself back onto Smith's back and took a deep breath of his musky fiery cinnamon smell, it was oddly soothing to Ross and he took one more deep breath before he sat up straighter. The cold sharp air was a harsh contrast from Smith and Ross could feel the bike slowing down, but it wasn't in a place he recognised. Smith pulled down a small dirt path and stopped near a deserted field – deserted except from one figure in the distance. Smith stopped and let Ross climb off, then Ross joined Smith in walking to the figure.

“It's Trott mate, we thought we could end a good mission with a relaxing picnic of sorts.” Smith explained to a bemused Ross.

“Hey guys!” Trott called from the distance. Ross waved and started walking faster and eventually he got to where Trott had laid down a black sheet. There was a large basket besides him and Trott was resting on his elbows, his sunglasses obnoxiously large in an endearing way.

“Hey Trott. What food you got?” Ross asked as he laid down beside him, his head resting in his arms which were crossed behind him. Smith sat down too, near the basket of course.

“There's cola-”

“That's not food Trott-”

“Some sandwiches, I dunno, chocolate in there 'cos I know you've got a sweet tooth, have a look. Sniping go good?”

“It was so good to shoot again. The quietness, the concentration....I kinda missed it.” Ross admitted. He hadn't fully known Smith and Trott's opinions on his killing but some part of him felt okay with whatever they would possibly say.

“So...you like killing?” Trott asked hesitantly. Ross turned to him and pulled the sunglasses off his face.

“No and yes. It used to bother me but now I feel...disconnected. I just fire the bullets, it's other people that have vendettas.” Ross said seriously.

“Does it ever scare you...how many people you've...?” Smith trailed off as he poured three drinks of cola out.

“Yes. But if I wasn't forced or blackmailed into killing then I'd always make sure the person who I'd be killing had done something to deserve it. Like I said, if they didn't deserve to die I'd tell them to change everything about them and leave.” Ross explained. Trott smiled and Ross took that as approval.

“At least we know there's some good in you.” Smith joked, passing Ross his drink.

“Also Ross, you're burns are looking like they've almost healed.” Trott commented, trailing his fingers along Ross's arm along the faint puckered scars of where the burns once were.

“Yeah, they don't feel as tender now either.” He said. As far as he could tell he only had one scar – a marred line on his back that stretched from his left shoulder diagonally to just above his waist on the right side. His back had been hit most in the blast, so it made sense.

“Does that mean we don't have to share beds anymore I'm gonna miss that.” Smith said with a smile as he leaned over to pass Trott his drink.

“I think we could work something out...” Ross winked and much to his delight Smith actually blushed a little, a dusting of red on his cheeks.

“Ooh, getting randy are we?” Trott laughed, “Yeah, we'll keep bed sharing I guess. Until we get a bigger place.”

“I'm not gonna miss your snoring Trott, even Ross isn't that bad.”

“Hey!” Ross said at the same time as Trott. Ross chuckled, but he would admit that Trott snored worse than him.

A silence swept over them, but it was comfortable. They ate and drank, revelling in the bright sun and Ross noticed how it turned Smith's hair lighter, even more ginger that it had been before. The light also twinkled in Trott's eyes, lovely tones of brown dancing and Ross thought he could stay in that moment forever, just looking at his friends. After a while Smith spoke up.

“So guys I kinda wanna say something. Might be good, might be bad but whatever.” He said nonchalantly, moving to sit up straight and look at both Ross and Trott. “Trott, I've known you for ages, and I mean ages, but Ross we've not known each other for long at all really. What I'm trying to say...well, I'm not good with words but...I, ugh whatever. Leave it, I'm just being stupid.”

“No, go on. Just say it mate.” Trott said. “Can't be worse than what I'm thinking.”

“Bet it can.” Smith said with a smile.

“You into dicks or something?” Ross joked, but a part of him prayed that at least Smith was. Maybe Trott would a bonus. Maybe they could-

“Actually, yes. Haven't we talked about this? I know I'm gay, Trott's pan boy over there-”

“Excuse me-” Trott started but Smith threw bits of lettuce at him. “Fuck off Smith.”

“I like you guys.” Ross said. He hadn't meant for it to slip out, but he meant it. Alex and Chris stopped dead, Alex with an incredulous look on his face, Trott's was more wonder and surprise.

“Really?” Alex whispered.

“Well I mean, you look nice and, well, Trott too and uh-” Ross babbled, and he wished he had never opened his mouth. He looked away from them both, blushing in embarrassment.

“Ross...?” Trott asked in a hushed voice.

“I...”

“I like you too.” Trott smiled, looking up into Ross's eyes.

“God this is fucking stupid can we fuck already or what?” Smith laughed, and all the awkwardness seemed to slip away with his laughter.

Their talk turned to laughter and before they knew it the sky was turning into brilliant red and vibrant golds, the air was growing cooler and the crickets around them were serenading the fading light.

Trott drove his car home while Ross got on the bike with Smith, this time his hand moved higher and he fully leaned into his shoulder, smiling.

They walked in a few minutes after Trott and the three settled on the sofa to watch some documentary Trott had turned on.

 

Instead of watching it however, Ross's mind wandered and marvelled at their relationship. Ever since they had just casually mentioned about how they liked each other as more than friends he had felt no pressure to be any different, no pressure to kiss them, and even as he slid an arm around Trott he felt no pressure to be anything other than himself. He leant on Smith's chest and smiled as Smith ran his hand lightly through his hair, happy that it wasn't awkward as he had thought it might have been.

Ross lost track of time but he didn't want to keep track anyway, he smiled as the three of them crowded into the double bed, he hummed happily as he wrapped his arms around Trott's waist and held Smith's hand over Trott and as he whispered good night he pecked Trott on the cheek, just a small peck, but it made his heart flutter and skip to a beat it hadn't done before. He closed his eyes and drifted off blissfully into a relaxed sleep.

  


Ross woke up happily to the early morning sun and practically pulled both Trott and Smith out of bed (inside he wanted to sleep longer, but he had plans) and ushered them out of the door once they were dressed.

“Where are we going Ross?” Smith yawned, stretching his arms which bumped the roof of the passenger side in the car.

“Yeah, its only just 7 AM, what’s this for?” Trott grumbled from the back, scowling out of the window.

“You'll see, it's important.” Was all Ross said.

Ross drove too fast for the limits the road signs displayed but it was important that they saw the view he wanted them to see. He drove them up a small back road instead of the official route and pulled up half way up a hill. They walked the rest, it wasn't far, and as they peaked the hill the Vinewood sign erupted into view. What Ross was more bothered about was the view beyond it.

 

The spectacular sprawling city was shrouded in mist that was dyed crimson and orange from the morning sun, buildings stood high and tinted yellow, their windows reflecting each other and making the concrete jungle seem vaster than it was. From their spot, high above the city, looking down with cautious yet unyielding eyes, Ross knew that Trott and Smith were feeling what he had the first time he stood there and watched the city grow to life with the sun.

“Wow...” Smith whispered with awe, his eyes raking the city scape with interest and superiority.

“This is amazing Ross.” Trott said, but it was still a whisper. Trott moved forwards slightly, his head lifted up.

Ross didn't reply, he didn't want to spoil the moment. He felt Smith take his hand; Smith used their closed hands to move Ross's face up to his and leant towards him.

The kiss was small, hesitant. Ross's heart flooded his chest, his breathing was deeper and he licked at Smith's lips, tilting his head. Their teeth bumped and they both laughed awkwardly, getting the attention of Trott who was otherwise still staring at the city scape.

“Hey, you can't leave me out.” He said with a smile, drawing closer to hold Ross's jaw before he pulled him down to connect their lips. Smith dotted kisses along Trott's neck, his hot breath caressing the sensitive skin there while Ross sucked lightly at Trott's lips, pulling them, running his lips over them. Ross ran his hands down Trott, one resting at the base of his spine with the other fisted in Smith's hair and he broke off to pepper soft kisses along Trott's jaw. Ross shifted around, pulling Smith with him so that he was behind Smith, kissing behind his ear while Smith gasped and pulled Trott to his lips, rougher, he softly bit at Trott's lips, soft and supple, warm; he ran his tongue over them as he breathed deeply with Trott as let out another soft gasp as Ross nibbled his neck. Ross could feel Smith's heartbeat quicken under the hand on his chest and he lifted the other to run through his silky hair, he felt Trott's hand on his hip pulling them closer together, trembling a little. He could smell Smith's musky warm scent, mixed with Trott, fresh mint and sea salt. It exploded over him suddenly, something he should have noticed – it overwhelmed his mind, pulling him down to their soft moans and tangled with his heart which beat faster with each gasp and movement.

Eventually they pulled apart, slowly, their heartbeats settled and their breathing returned to normal. As the three looked back over at the city one last time Ross made a silent vow to give them it – give them whatever they wanted, whatever they needed. He could feel Trott, his hand still trembling within his, their uncommunicated decision to return home in the air.

 

Smith sat in the back, his hand draped over the seat to run through Ross's hair while the other stroked Trott's arm. He sang along quietly to the song on the radio, smiling, and Ross zoned out to the words, instead listening to the deep rumble and rich undertones as Smith's voice, velvety through the lyrics, pulled Ross into a lazy stupor as he hummed along. Trott joined in where he knew the lyrics, stumbling over the ones he didn't with a laugh.

 

As they slipped inside Ross grabbed Trott to hold him back and Smith spun him round so Trott was between him and Ross. Trott looked up into Ross’s eyes, almost a silent request to connect their lips so Ross smiled and leaned down but at the last second pulled up to kiss Smith instead.

“Ross!” Trott complained with mock hurt.

Ross chuckled and pulled away from Smith to lift Trott's head slightly from his chin, looking into his eyes Trott looked down and blushed with a smile. Ross leaned down to kiss Trott, his warm lips on Trott's dry ones, caressing them and pulling them as Smith walked them back, running his hand through Trott's hair and kissing his neck, sucking a little. Smith's hands roamed under Trott's shirt, tracing patterns into his cool skin while Trott melted into Smith's lustful touch.

Ross smiled, breaking away to pepper kisses up the side of Trott's face until he awkwardly bumped noses with Smith. He used the moment of leverage to peck Smith's nose which earned him a soft chuckle which turned to a small gasp as Trott shifted around to nip the delicate skin at his neck.

“Let's take this to the bedroom boys.” Smith whispered huskily, pulling Trott's hips towards him as he walked backwards.

“Were not going to all fit on the bed...” Ross pointed out as he pushed his body against the back of Trott.

“S'alright mate, we'll chuck Trott on the floor when we’re done with him.” Smith grinned, his eyes lingering hungrily on Trott's body, before he turned around and opened the door.

“I'd like to see you try.” Trott challenged with a sultry wink.

Ross swiftly pulled Chris's shirt over his head and twisted him around so he would fall onto the bed. Ross leant over him as Alex stood behind Ross, rutting his hips against his ass. Tenderly, Ross stroked down Chris's chest, leaning down to embrace him, their lips gliding over each other’s while Smith sensually slid his hands along Ross sides, mapping out his body with shaky fingers.

“I'd like to see what I could do with this...” Alex purred as he ran a hand around Ross to palm the soft bulge growing there while the other raked trails down Ross's back. Ross's shiver echoed through Chris's gasp as Ross ground their hips together while Alex teased at the band of Ross's boxers.

“Oh fuck.” Chris gasped as Ross nipped at his neck and Chris wrapped his legs around Ross to pull their hips together again while Alex ran his hands up inside Ross shirt, ruffling it up then pulling it off when Ross lifted his arms.

As Alex trailed his fingers down Ross's warm soft skin, tracing the scar on his back, Ross pulled Chris up into a sitting position as he kneeled up on the edge of the bed, allowing Alex to slip behind him, legs on either side of Chris's hips. Alex roughly pulled Chris's hair, exposing his neck so Alex could nip and mark him with love bites, eliciting deep groans from Chris as Ross trailed down to graze his teeth along Chris's hips.

“I'm going to burn my name into your skin.” Alex purred to Chris as he melted into his touch.

“I'll make you scream and beg for more.” Ross teased as he pulled at Chris's boxers with his teeth.

“Whatever you do, do it more, fuck.” Chris breathed out with a small gasp as Ross slipped down his pants to hover over the bulge in Chris's' boxers.

Ross looked up, his eyes gazing half lidded into Chris's before he leant over Chris's cock. Chris twisted his fingers in Ross hair with a moan as Ross breathed hotly over him, then his moan turned to a sharp gasp as Ross licked at his cock through his boxers.

Behind him, Alex tugged Chris's earlobe with his teeth while he slowly rocked his hips against Chris's back and ran his hands over Chris's chest.

Below him, Ross dragged Chris's boxers down and immediately licked the tip of his cock, swirling his wet tongue around the tip in small circles while Chris groaned and moved his hips with the motion.

“Fuck Ross, oh fuck.” Chris gasped as Ross languidly sucked his cock into his mouth, his warm hollowed cheeks dragging along the shaft, Ross's hum vibration through him.

Chris gasped, louder this time as Ross moved lazily back up, his tongue sliding along the underside, slick with saliva, begging for Chris to move, to push his hips up and slowly fuck Ross's mouth while Alex moved his hips back and pushed his fingers into Chris's mouth, letting him suck on them before he his touched himself, pushing his hand down to tease the tip of his cock while he roughly bit and sucked marks onto Chris's neck.

“Shit, fucking, oh-Ross, like that god yes.” Chris breathed as Ross sucked hard on his cock and cupped his balls, moving them with his sucks. Chris thrusted his hips faster, begging for Ross to move faster, suck more, take more of him into his mouth while Alex's faint groans in his ear made him dizzy, Alex's body moving with his, shuddering slightly as Chris snaked a hand down to Alex's inner thigh.

“Fuck Ross, I'm-oh fuck- go faster please-” Chris gasped with shallow breaths as he felt Ross used a hand on the rest of his cock his mouth couldn’t get but Alex used a leg to stop Ross who looked up, Chris's cock popping out of his swollen lips.

“No, he's going to fucking beg for it, Ross, he's going to scream for it.” Alex growled seductively while he moved around Chris to straddle him, Chris's frustrated moan muffled with Alex's lips.

“I can't fuck you if you have clothes on.” Ross stated while he pulled off his trousers, his eyes running hungrily over Alex and Chris.

“Take them off Chris.” Alex said, moving back as he felt Ross's hands snake up his back under his own shirt, pulling it off in one deft move. Chris slipped his legs out of his boxers, breathing heavily as he watched Ross suck seductively at Alex's neck, his hands moving down to push Alex's clothes down his legs, a hand lightly stroking Alex's cock.

“Ross...” Alex gasped, his name on his lips as Ross grabbed his cock fully, a moan drawn from his lips as Chris moved to kneel up and connect their lips, their tongues crashing together as Chris cupped Alex's face, moving his body flush to Alex's, their cocks rubbing together aided by Ross who rutted against Alex's ass.

“It's not just Chris who going to be begging, you're gonna be shaking when I'm done with you.” Ross muttered darkly, noting how rough Alex was with Chris, and Alex's groan rumbled through both Chris and Ross, pulling them together.

Alex roughly pushed Chris back down, a hand snaking down to brush past his cock before he grinned and edged towards his entrance.

“Ross, there should be some lube in a drawer somewhere...” Alex said, moving back up to slowly stroke Chris's cock while he waited. “You want me to fuck you, right? To make you mine, to fill you up?” Alex muttered to Chris.

“Fuck yes, oh god-” Chris confirmed, his loud moan cutting him off as Alex tensed a hand around his cock. Ross rummaged through their bedside drawers and found a bottle; he twisted off the cap and pushed his fingers into the cold lube with a sly smile before he pushed the bottle into Alex's hand. Looking back, Ross also grabbed a condom and put it down on the bed.

As Alex warmed up some lube on his fingers Ross tugged at his own cock before he grabbed Alex's cock. Alex groaned loudly, doubling over slightly as he pushed one finger slowly into Chris who breathed out loudly and moved slightly onto Alex's finger, his head tipped back in pleasure.

Alex started to move faster, making sure that Chris was rocking hips in time with him before he added another finger.

Behind Alex, Ross ground his hips onto Alex's ass, his hands running over the muscles in Alex's back, his nails trailing over them making Alex shiver while he added a third finger into Chris who was melting into his touch, grinding down on Alex's fingers.

“Alex, fucking-” Chris gasped as he fucked Alex's fingers, his body trembling.

“Beg for it Chris.” Alex breathed, pulling his fingers out of Chris who groaned loudly.

“Fuck me Alex,” Chris whimpered, “I wanna ride your cock-”

“I'm gonna slam into you so hard you're gonna scream, but you gotta beg for it.” Alex growled, moving his hips with Ross and moaning deeply as Ross teased his cock, slicking it with lube and moving agonizingly slow.

“Fuck, Alex, fuck me. Please, fuck me – ah, oh god, fuck me.” Chris moaned, gasping as Alex grabbed his cock. Ross leaned down a little to push the condom in Alex hand before he went back to moving against him, the friction pulsing through him.

“What do you want me to do Chris?” Alex asked slyly as he slipped the condom on and lubed it up, chuckling darkly as Chris groaned impatiently, eyes closed in frustration.

“Alex! Please, fuck me, I want – god, please, I need, oh fuck—ah!” And his stream of begs turned into a cry as Alex pushed into him roughly, clenching as around his cock as Alex pushed fully into him. Alex used Chris's hips to steady himself as started to move, slowly at first, Chris's moans filling the room as they moved together. Behind them Ross stroked himself, pumping in time to Alex's thrusts, his other hand caressing the taut muscles of Alex’s back.

“Alex, please move faster, fuck.” Chris begged, moving his hips faster to try to get Alex to thrust into him more, sinking all the way down to the base of Alex's cock.

“Beg.” Alex whispered, slowing almost to a stop.

“Alex, please.” Chris choked out, his plea strained as he clenched around Alex's cock.

Without warning Alex pulled out and slammed into his ass, Chris's cry ringing as he pulled at Alex's hips with his legs, his arms bracing on mattress and clenching the sheets as Alex fucked him relentlessly, his grunts matching Chris's moans. Ross moved faster, pulling at his cock as he watched Alex pound into Chris, their bodies slamming together in passion, his moans mixing with Chris's cries, and as he felt the first tugs of an orgasm in his stomach he groaned and rutted against Alex's ass. As he quickened the rhythm Alex reached down to pump Chris's cock, groaning as Chris clenched around him again, losing his pace momentarily before he picked it back up, Ross's cock pushing against his ass, between his cheeks, Ross's fingers digging into his shoulders as he moved against his thrusts.

“Alex – oh fuck Alex I'm cuming, fuck, fuck, oh – fuck!” Chris screamed, jerking into Alex hand as waves of fire rushed through him and his cum splattered against Alex's hand and his stomach, his legs shaking as Alex slowed down with Chris's orgasm, wanting to go on but wanting Chris to get the most pleasure he could.

“Told you I'd make you scream.” Alex whispered sultrily as he pulled out of Chris.

“Fuck me...” Chris gasped, leaning back shakily, gazing with half lidded eyes at Alex who twisted to face Ross.

“Am I fucking you too?” Alex muttered against Ross's lips, smiling as Ross gasped.

“Just blow me.” Ross breathed out with anticipation.

Alex immediately moved Ross to stand as he knelt on the floor, taking Ross's cock into his mouth, moaning as he heard Ross's sharp gasp and felt him jerk into his mouth. Chris breathed deeply and moved from the bed to behind Alex, kneeling down with him to pull off the condom and jerk him off.

Looking up into Ross eyes Alex ran his tongue on the underside of Ross's cock, sucking as he moved up and down the shaft, one hand on Ross's hip, the other on the rest of his cock he couldn't suck, moving in time and twisting as Ross shallowly fucked his mouth while groaning as Chris pumped his cock, moaning as he felt a hot coil in the pit of his stomach, the vibrations melting through Ross's cock.

“Alex, fuck.” Ross groaned, “Fuck... swirl your tongue around, oh fuck like that, god.” he gasped, the hot trails in his stomach dissolving into pleasure as he came without warning, his head swimming with ripples as he slowed, Alex's grin ghosting up his chest as he stood to connect their lips, the saltiness of his cum on his lips.

“I'm so close, fuck.” Alex gasped as Ross bit his lip, thrusting into Chris's hand as he was pushed back onto the bed, Chris moving to the other side of them

“So cum for me.” Ross whispered as Alex ground into Ross's hand, trembling as he drew closer to his orgasm.

“Fuck...oh god, fuck Ross...” He gasped, “A bit tighter – oh god yes! Oh fuck – I'm-” Alex gasped, his words cut off as Chris pulled him into a kiss, biting his lips, their tongues crashing against each other. Alex thrust with an uneven pace into Ross's hand, his head thrown back and his cry loud as he came, a shock wave of pleasure jerking through him as he stopped thrusting, his cum spilling over Ross's hand while he drew back to kiss Chris lazily.

“Fuck me...” Chris breathed while he ran a hand through Ross's hair.

“I just did mate.” Alex grinned, pulling Chris into his arms along with Ross who fell to the other side of the pair, passing round a box of tissues so they could quickly clean up.

“Shut it Alex.” Chris muttered as he leant his head forwards to Alex's chest, his lower half comfortably embraced by Ross even though he was aching a bit.

“Both of you shut it.” Ross whispered with a contented sigh.

After a moment of silence Alex said, “Told you Chris was a bottom.”

“Alex!”

Alex soft deep laugh was almost drunk, Ross's chuckle with it was almost intoxicating.

“Goodnight.” Alex whispered, moving just a bit closer to Chris, sliding his fingers into Ross's hand.

“Goodnight.” Chris mumbled sleepily with a yawn and a small sigh.

“Goodnight.” Ross breathed against Chris's head, pressing a soft kiss to his hair. “Goodnight.”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just wanted to give a mention to all my beta readers, thanks for doing a great job! <3


	6. Mixed messages

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Can you really trust the man who says he knows everything when he tells you nothing at all?

When Ross woke he heard the shower running and the warm space of where Trott had slept in his arms last night had been replaced with Smith who was snoring lightly on his chest. Ross breathed in deeply, contented, and he pulled Smith just a little closer.  
“Morning mate.” Smith whispered, lifting his head sleepily to grin up at Ross.  
“Morning babe.” Ross smirked, leaning his down to press a kiss to Smith's lips, then he relaxed against his pillow as Smith rested his head back on Ross's chest.  
“Babe. You should be calling Trott babe.”  
“I would but he's in the shower. Also, didn't know you were a rough guy.” Ross said casually, smiling as he heard Smith's faint chuckle.  
“Well, I got the sensual guy vibe from you, but Trott? God he just...melted into our hands...ahh...” Smith breathed as he remembered last night.  
“I've never seen someone so submissive...” Ross agreed with a guilty smile.  
“I...hmm... we should probably get up.” Smith said, lifting himself to rest on an arm to look at Ross. “Or we could just jump into the shower with him.”  
“There's only just enough room for two guys I think, definitely not three.” Ross said as Smith nodded thoughtfully.  
“Hmm...ah well, we'll go in together then. You know, to save water and all?” Smith smiled, resting back into Ross's chest.  
“Yeah, we'll do that.” Ross replied sleepily, pulling Smith back into his warm embrace.  
The calm silence was comfortable, Smith and Ross's breathing melting together in the room. After some time Smith spoke up.  
“What does this mean?” His voice wavering slightly over the 'this'.  
“I think it means we fucked last night mate.” Ross replied with a small chuckle.  
“Great Ross, just great, but in all seriousness are you okay with the...three...of us being like...together?”  
“Alex,” Ross said, lifting Smith's chin up so he could look him in the eyes, “are you seriously thinking that we had a one night stand and that we'd go back to normal?”  
“I don't know...I just...” Smith sighed, his eyes flitting down.  
Instead of spitting out some reassurance Ross leaned down to hover on Smith's lips, then to push against them sweetly, their lips brushing each other's. Ross cupped Smith's face, tilting him to the side, smoothing his fingers over Smith's rough long stubble, humming against his lips, warm and tender. Ross's eyes fluttered closed as he breathed in. Alex's musky smell of fire enveloping his senses and trailing down into his lungs leaving him breathless and intoxicated. Ross swept his tongue over Alex's lips with lingering spice, tracing them with hot breaths as their lips glided over each other's, each searing flick of their tongues making Ross shiver. He bit slowly at Alex's lips, pulling them with his teeth as he pulled back, letting go and lifting Alex's head up to gaze into his soft sea blue eyes.  
“Sorry mate, you're stuck with me.” Ross whispered, pecking his lips one last time as he heard the water shut off from the bathroom.  
“I'm glad.” Smith mumbled against Ross's chest before he stood as Trott walked in, towel around his waist.  
“Shower’s free.” Trott yawned, yelping with a laugh as Smith walked by him and slapped his arse.  
“Thanks, Trott.” Ross said, following Smith into the bathroom.

 

Smith was just stepping into the shower as Ross got into the bathroom, the hot water spraying out of the door while he waited for Ross to join him.  
As soon as Ross stepped in he wrapped his arms loosely around Smith's waist, nuzzling his head into Smith's neck while the steamy water immersed them with warmth. Alex rested his arms where Ross's held him, his head leaning back as he sighed contentedly while Ross ran his hands slowly over Alex's muscular chest.  
They both stayed like this, Ross mumbling incoherent thoughts and feelings against Alex's skin, occasionally pressing kisses to his pale skin to leave blossoming rose marks where his lips had been and where the hot water had heated them both.  
“Pass the body wash, Alex.” Ross murmured huskily, his voice thick and low. He extended his arm past Alex who instead squirted some onto Ross's hand. Shaking his head, Ross moved back a little and started to work the wash into Alex's shoulders, moving in slow circular movements, working out the tensed muscles, sweeping his hands along Alex's shoulder blades and using his fingertips knead and massage them.  
Ross slowly traced his fingers down Alex back along his spine, pressing in and splaying his hands to massage along Alex's spine with his thumbs, his fingers tapping on either side of his spine. Alex leaned his head back, eyes closed as he sighed and reached up with both hands to rub his neck.  
Feeling Alex melt into him, breathing deeply and occasionally mumbling words Ross couldn't make out, Ross began to move back up to Alex's shoulders and lightly knead the loose muscles, the warm water cascading over them both.  
Pausing for a second, Ross reached to the small shelf beside him and squeezed some shampoo onto his hands then went back to massaging Alex, his fingertips caressing his scalp in small circular movements, smiling as Alex mumbled again even though he couldn't tell what the hushed words were. After some time Ross moved Alex fully under the water to wash out the suds with soothing movements.  
“Were still not clean...” Alex murmured, picking up a sponge to wet it and wash both him and Ross, the steaming water flowing over them both, washing them clean with it's calming heat.  
When all the suds were gone Alex reached up and shut off the water while Ross passed him a towel, both of them walking while getting dried.  
“I didn't know you gave massages...if I'd have asked for one a lot sooner.” Alex said as he dried his chest and legs while rummaging through his set of drawers to grab some clothes.  
“I'd say last night was a good massage...” Ross said with a wink, drying his hair and laughing softly as he felt Smith's towel hit his stomach. When Ross pulled the towel off his head he saw a light blush dusted Smith's cheeks, his smile soft and serene. It made Ross's heart jump which resulted in a blush of his own which he hid by ducking his head down to pull on a tight black shirt and a pair of dark jeans. He followed Smith to the kitchen, the smell a full English breakfast floating down the hallway.

 

In the kitchen Trott was humming along to the radio, swaying his hips in time to the scratchy tune as he fried some mushrooms in a skillet, three plates already set up and full of food, ready to be taken to the table once the mushrooms were done.  
“Oh, you guys finally out of the shower?” Trott smiled, turning round for a second then back to his frying.  
“Yeah, we were gonna join you Trotty but I think we need a bigger shower for that.” Smith said as poured water into the kettle to boil it. He jumped up to sit on the counter beside it and Ross sat down at the table, his head resting in his hands. The sound of the mushrooms frying took over their words and Ross's mind flicked back to last night – just the thought of the looks on Trott and Smith's faces made him blush and smile like a schoolgirl who had her first crush.  
Trott finished the mushrooms and tipped equal amounts onto each plate then brought them to the table at the same time as Smith brought over 3 cups of tea.  
“Thanks mates.” Ross said, “I'll get the cutlery.” He said, standing up to go to the drawer.  
“Overcooked the mushrooms a little mate.” Smith said, laughing as Trott swatted his hand in Smith's general direction.  
“Ah fuck yourself Smith.” Trott said, but he smiled all the same.  
“Yeah Smith, you'll be sleeping on the floor now.” Ross said, sitting down at the table.  
“Aww c'mon guys-”  
“You'll have to grit your teeth and bare it.” Trott teased, giggling quietly as Smith pouted.  
“I'll grit my teeth 'round your dick mate.” Smith replied, laughing as Trott cringed and his food slipped out of his mouth while Ross just watched and laughed.  
“He's gonna eat your dick!” Ross shouted, his voice half cracking at the end which resulted in even more laughing, but nothing topped Smith' shout of-  
“Gonna rip his dick right off”  
“Ooooooh, dick rip!” Ross taunted, laughing as Trott kicked him under the table.  
“Both of you shut up and eat the food I lovingly cooked for us all.” Trott complained, but the huge grin on his face pulled any seriousness he had out of his words.  
“He eats dick better...almost better than you do, Smith.” Ross stage whispered, chuckling as Smith blushed.  
“I only eat premium dick mate, which means, I'm never eating yours again.” Smith said, now starting a footsie war under the table.  
“Ooooooh, go rip a dick Ross.” Trott grinned as he full on kicked Smith under the table.  
“Trott! I like his dick!” Smith defended, snickering as Trott waved his fork while he chewed his food.  
“You started it!”  
“But-”  
“Both of you, eat, or there'll be some serious dick ripping tonight.” Ross warned with a smirk as both Trott and Smith blushed at his words.  
“Oh, also, were meeting up at Ridge's today. He called earlier this morning, he said he's got one new guy to introduce too so that'll be cool.” Trott said.  
“Hmm...it kinda seems slow going, doesn't it?” Smith mused, waving his fork in front of his face as he chewed thoughtfully.  
“These things are mate, we need people to trust us and it takes some time to do that. In the meantime we can get both of you used to guns, maybe shotties soon, maybe even explosions.” Ross replied. He had a feeling that Smith would like explosions.  
“Sounds cool, we can just rob some small garage stores or something.” Trott suggested.  
“And liquor stores, we can't forget those – free alcohol mate.” Smith smiled.  
“Yeah, for you maybe, it's not exactly beer though-”  
“Piss gargler.”  
“I have to admit I'm with Trott. I'm a piss boy too.” Ross said.  
“Nah mate, whiskey all the way.” Smith said, shaking his head. “By the way, what was that whiskey Ridge had last time? I can't remember for the life of me what it was...”  
“Uhhh, no, can't remember.” Ross said.  
“Sorry mate.” Trott added.  
“Ah well, we're going to his today anyway.” Smith said as he finished his breakfast.  
“What time do we have to be there Trott?” Ross asked, standing to move their now empty plates.  
“1, so not terribly early. We got some time to sit and do nothing at all.” He sighed, leaning back in his chair.  
“I like the sound of that.” Smith said, sipping his tea.  
Ross sat back down and closed his eyes, smiling for brief second before he opened his eyes and saw Smith smiling at him. When Ross raised an eyebrow in a questioning glance Smith just shook his head.  
“You look happy.” Was all Smith said.  
Trott looked at Ross, “He means, we've seen you laugh and smile and such, but this is the first time that you've looked truly happy.”  
“I am. I really am.” Ross said. “I can't actually remember a time before you meeting you guys that I've ever been this happy. Sure, I've laughed with people but even then sometimes it was a façade – it never has been with you guys. I mean, I dunno, I guess I just really like being around you both.”  
“Well, we did fuck last night. How's your arse Trott?” Smith asked with a small smile.  
“A little sore, a bit achy. I'm not pushing your ego up or whatever but you do have a nice dick.”  
“He totally pushing your ego.” Ross said.  
“I do have a nice dick, its gotta be said. 20 inches of pure arsehole annihilation.” Smith said proudly.  
“More like 3 inches.” Trott muttered into his mug.  
“3? It didn't sound like 3 last night...” Smith replied with a sly grin.  
“Fuck off Smith.” Trott mumbles, furiously blushing while lifting his mug to try to hide his smile.  
“Don't,” Smith said, carefully pushing Trott's mug back down, “you're cute when you blush.”  
“Smith!” Trott laughed, his blush growing so his cheeks were a bright red.  
“You do, you're gorgeous when you blush.” Ross admired, lifting a hand to caress Trott's cheek.  
“It's not a contest to see who can woo me...” Trott mumbled with a smile.  
“I'll fucking woo you mate. Woo you with this!” Smith shouted through gritted teeth, laughing as the end as he mimed shoving a fist upwards.  
“Oh! He's wooing you up the butt!” Ross laughed.  
“I'm wooed.” Trott swooned, holding a hand daintily to his forehead as he closed his eyes in a sort of pained but loving expression.  
“But I was gonna woo you Trott.” Ross complained with fake hurt.  
“I'm wooed by you too. I'm wooooooooed.” He laughed, going back to his tea.  
“Hm. What do we do until we go to Ridge's?” Smith asked, twiddling his beard slowly.  
“Nothing? I'm a fan of doing nothing.” Trott suggested.  
“Just sit around outside?” Ross said, “It is nice day...”  
“Hm. Maybe.” Smith pondered. “Yeah, I like the idea of outside.” He said, smiling as he finished the rest of his tea. “As long as you guys are there, I'll enjoy pretty much anything.”

 

Ross was laid outside on the warm grass with his Trott resting his head on his chest and Smith was laying on his back, his head on the grass just above Trott's waist as he held Trott's hand loosely.  
“Just...being here...I like this.” Ross said, musing his thoughts aloud. “I like hearing you both, breathing, laughing, I like feeling you both, here.” He was silent for a few seconds before carrying on. “I guess I was so used to being alone I forgot what it was like to be...loved.”  
“Ross...” Trott said, but he trailed off.  
“I don't ever want to go back either. Go back to my life before you both turned it upside down.” He smiled fondly, “In such a short time I've changed so much...I'm still part of who I was, I think. I...like us. No, I know I...love us.”  
Smith said, “I...love us too.” and he leant down to peck a kiss to Trott's head, “I love us.”  
“you know what guys? I love us too.” Trott stated in a matter of fact tone but it was warm hearted. Ross closed his eyes peacefully, letting the sun warm him and Trott and Smith's muttering wash over him, joining in occasionally.  
I love us.  
The comfortable silence was broken by the shrill ringtone of Ross's phone which pulled Ross out of his daze, and as he scrambled to pull it out of his back pocket his hips lifted Trott up who nearly tumbled onto Ross.  
“Hello?” Ross asked; he hadn't recognised the number.  
“Oh, hey Ross, great show you put on yesterday.” Sips's voice answered, much to Ross's relief.  
“Oh yeah, how's Sjin? I didn't really mean to shoot brains onto him.” Ross replied sheepishly. He held the phone a little away and whispered, “It's Sips.” to let Trott and Smith know.  
“Yeah, Sjin wasn't particularly happy with that. Our shares immediately shot up though, so it was worth it though don't expect him to like you a lot if we meet up again.”  
“If we meet up?”  
“Yeah, if, Ridge told us that he had some sorting to do with someone? He wouldn't really tell us but you know the guy, always doing something strange. He like a genius or something.” Sips said, but his tone suggested that even he didn't believe Ridge's excuse.  
“Hmm...okay. Tell Sjin I apologise for getting brains on him, and if we do meet up I hope it's pretty soon.” Ross said. “You are both okay and don't have people suspicious of you, do you?”  
“We're fine.” Sips drawled and Ross could hear the smirk in Sips's voice. “Goddammit it Sjin you fucker - See you soon.” Ross could hear Sjin giggling loudly while Sips swore again.  
“Goodbye.” Then Ross hung up, rolling his eyes at their antics.  
“So it went well on their end?” Smith asked, sitting up on his elbows and lolling his head back to side glance Ross.  
“Yeah, they're all good. Their shares went up and that means after some transactions we'll have even more funds to use.”  
“What do we need so much money for though, we already have money.” Trott said, frowning a little.  
“I'd assume hiring people, paying for helicopters, jets, the fuel for them, cars, guns, ammo, alibi funders, and of course we'll need hackers, police infiltrators...” Ross listed, remembering just how hectic a huge operation could be.  
“That's a lot of people...wow. It's all for the better I guess.” Trott said, closing his eyes again as he rested against Ross.  
“I just hope The Overlookers don't know what we're planning.” Smith said, lying back down on the now cool grass as a small chilly breeze drifted over him.

 

When the trio reached Ridge's sprawling mansion it was half past 12, half an hour before they were formally meant to arrive. Parked outside the huge gates was an Adder, its jet black chrome finished with a wine red tint that reflected the sun in a glittering splendour.  
“I guess we’re walking up then.” Trott stated, cutting the engine when he parked just behind the other car.  
“Well, it’s a nice day – why waste it?” Ross smiled, climbing out and walking with the three to the gates.  
As they drew closer they saw that the gates were ajar, so they walked in. The Mansion was, as always, the most breath-taking structure you could have ever witnessed in a lifetime. It possessed a rich aura that seeped into you, capturing you with its grasp of modern aristocracy. The gardens however, were shadowed by this grandeur even though it had a charm of its own.  
When you had frequented Ridge’s mansion as much as Ross had in the past you would start to notice the perfectly manicured hedges, the magnificent smooth cobbled walkway and the glitteringly clear water that flowed calmly from high fountains that reached towards the sky in hopes of joining the clouds up there.  
Trees graced the Mansion walls; Willows that caressed the polished marble, towering Coast Redwoods that encased Ridge’s Mansion with curiosity and intimidation, Red Pines that lifted the jaded greens with their blisteringly white trunks and, Ross’s favourite, Northern Red Oaks with their twisted trunks and vibrant lime green leaves.  
Ridge had mentioned all of these trees before, that’s how Ross knew them, and as Ross chattered away blissfully to Smith and Trott while they walked up to the open doors of Ridge’s mansion, he didn’t notice the small trail of blood that scraped violently up a perfect marble pillar and onto the doors – it was only when Trott grabbed his arm that Ross noticed.  
“What should we-” Trott began, but Ross held a finger to his lips, motioning for both Trott and Smith to be silent.  
He pulled out his pistol from his belt and edged around the corner of the door, following the blood trail which led to a wall, then stopped. Silently, Ross placed his fingers on the wall and gave a small push, pulling back in surprise when the wall moved a little. Pushing it more, Ross heard a voice and motioned for Chris and Alex to move closer.  
“…you’re going to tell me where they are.” The voice, not Ridge’s, commanded.  
“Why do you deserve that knowledge?” Ridge asked, a hint of smugness to his voice.  
“Because I have this crowbar and you’re tied in a chair.” The voice stated. From what Ross could gather, it was definitely a man. His voice was gruff and low. Alex made a move to open the door but Ross stopped him.  
“We have to help-” Alex started but Ross shushed him again.  
“Ridge is fine. I'll explain later.” Was all he whispered as turned back to the slightly ajar hidden door. Ridge had done this before, coxed information form his torturer in the form of letting himself be tortured like the crazy idiot he was.  
“So, you know who I am, but who…are…you….” Ridge mused aloud.  
“That is classified.”  
“So you’re from an organisation, I see…”  
“Why do you need to know.” The man demanded.  
“I need to put down a cause of death on my gravestone you know, won’t you be proud if it had your name on it too?”  
“That would get me jail time.”  
“I’m a criminal, the American justice system only cares for the criminal – not the victim. I’d have thought you would know this. But, as long as the criminal is white and male, it doesn't matter what they did. They were 'crazy' or 'mentally unwell' you see.”  
“Look, I’m here for information. I don’t care about your stupid spiels – tell. Me. Who. You are. Working. For.” Between each pause Ross could hear the sound of flesh being hit, hard. Ridge stayed quiet. After a pause Ridge spoke.  
“The Overlookers.” Ross frowned and felt his heart jump violently, but he kept himself still.  
“Oh…god.” The man gasped and Ross could hear the sound of dropped metal hitting the floor, covering the gasps from Trott and Smith beside him.  
“I know who you are.” Ridge said and Ross could feel the cruel smile he knew would be on Ridge’s face.  
“No, no you don’t. I’m leaving you here. I hope that some unfortunate soul who may be your friend will find you before you starve.” The man said.  
“Hey wait, us Overlookers aren’t bad. I’ll cut you a deal.”  
“Go on…”  
“If you tell me why you needed to know, I won’t find you or kill you.” Ridge bargained.  
“Fine. I needed to know because we have our spies watching the city and we noticed three men visit you, you have another two visit them, and then two of our…associates died at a stocks gathering. We need to know why you killed them. You have money – why did you need to kill them for more? Why not just play the stock market, why them?”  
“Well, that’s a good question.” Ridge said, then he paused.  
“We have to stop this!” Trott hissed, but again, Ross quietened him.  
“But our time does seem to be up. You should untie me.” Ridge said.  
“No.” The gruff voice laughed, “Why would I do that? You need to die, and you’ll die now. You lost out on the bargain, you can’t kill me if you’re down here dead. Goodbye.” The gruff voice taunted, then Ross walked through the door into a dimly lit room that had the man and Ridge in it.  
“He said he wouldn’t kill you, but I didn’t.” Ross said. Then he shot the man between the eyes with deadly accuracy. The shot ringed for a few seconds then the man fell.  
“Ah, nice timing. Would you untie me?” Ridge asked with a smile.  
“Yeah, yeah, have you got a knife or something? This’ll do…” Smith said as he walked to Ridge, picked up a small serrated knife from the floor and sawed the bindings off.  
“What the hell just happened?” Trott asked worriedly as he helped Ridge stand up.  
“Just a little info gathering. My leg hurts quite a bit. Oh well.” Ridge said calmly.  
When they got into the light of the hallway Ross could see the full extent of the injuries Ridge had. His left cheek was badly bruised and already blackening while the right side of his face had a cut from his jaw to his temple which was bleeding badly, not life threateningly though. His neck was swollen and red, his wrists had angry red welts circling his wrists and he walked with an arm hovering over his stomach in pain. He tenderly placed one foot in front of the other, pausing with every step of his right foot.  
“Really Ridge, how much pain are you in.” Ross said, opening the door to the kitchen.  
“Quite a lot. Heh.” Ridge said, hissing with his laugh at the end.  
“Should we get a doctor or...?” Smith asked, pulling out a chair at the table so Ridge could sit down.  
“No, no, there's no need. Ross, you can deal with this right?”  
“Yeah. Trott, get some ice from the freezer.” Ross said. Trott looked to Ridge who pointed to a cupboard. “Smith, first aid kit, top shelf over there,” Ross pointed, “Ridge, put your bad foot up on a chair.” As he gave the others directions Ross ran the tap into the sink until the water was ice cold then he started filling up a bowl while he washed his hands.  
When it was half full Ross walked to Ridge, placed the bowl on the table then held his hand to the cut to stop the bleeding. It had already started to clot around the edges so it had been there for some time.  
“I got the ice but let me wrap it in a hand towel first.” Smith said as he returned with a bag of ice.  
“I got the kit.” Trott said as he slipped down from the counter, with the first aid kit held above his head.  
“Ha ha, you're so tiny you can't reach it from the floor.” Ridge said with a laugh.  
“I'm sorry I'm not 6 foot giants like you three are.” Trott defended. “Aspirin, right?”  
“No, that slows blood and prolongs bleeding. Is there Advil in there? I can't remember when I last stocked it.” Ridge said whimsically.  
“Yeah, were gonna need bandages too.”  
“Make sure they're elastic.” Smith said, as he came back with the ice and held it to the bruise.  
“You sure know how to treat a guy right.” Ridge said. “Maybe a pillow for my poor foot too?”  
“That's pushing it a bit mate.” Trott said as he got a glass of water for Ridge.  
“I just got tortured!”  
“By choice. What did you find out?” Ross asked.  
“Well, we have a rival now. Someone is concerned with what I'm doing, which is nothing fresh, but more so why I need people I know for what I'm doing.”  
“What do we do?” Smith asked.  
“Nothing, we don't need to do anything. I can find out who ordered the torture towards me, torture their employees back, kill them and then take down whatever company that guy was from in a day. Maybe two, the injuries are a set back I think. Oh, also, I got some cool new explosives sent in from abroad.”  
“I'll be trying those out then.” Smith grinned.  
“Ah, you're an explosion kind of guy.”  
“He likes to think he is.” Trott said ducking away from Smith as he walked by. “Two now, two four hours later.”  
“Thanks. I can teach you to be an explosions guy, if you want, there are some businesses on my hit list...” Ridge mused as he took the pills.  
“Yeah, blowing shit up sounds like fun.” Smith said as he grinned.  
“Lift your head a second Ridge...hmm...I'll clean it out now and bandage it up, the bleeding has almost stopped.” Ross said, taking the elastic bandage and gauze from Trott.  
“Thank you Ross.” Ridge said, hissing a little as Ross used his hand to scoop us some water and run it down Ridge face. It didn't matter about his clothes, Ridge could change them.  
“How did you even get him inside?” Trott asked as he carefully raised one of Ridge's wrists to inspect how bad the damage was to them.  
“I saw him following me, left the gate open, left the door open, made sure he saw me walking into one of my secret rooms and played my part well.” Ridge said proudly. “Even Ross didn't know about my secret rooms, well, you all do know of that one now so there's that.”  
“I'm going to have to wrap the bandage around your head, diagonally across your neck.” Ross said as he held the gauze in place and began to wrap Ridge's wound.  
“That's not gonna look good, my poor hair!” Ridge complained. “Well, it kinda serves me right I guess.”  
“You really do go to some weird lengths for information...” Smith said, turning the ice so Ridge could get the colder side again.  
“I'll admit this much – I have a god complex.” Ridge said, “I always have and always will do. It's not a bad thing though. I'm just flippant about it.”  
“We can tell mate. You can't just go around around getting tortured every now and then, it's not good for your health.” Ross said with a shake of his head.  
“It's more my psychological health I should be worried about...” Ridge said, “I'm not fully mentally stable. I am most of the time though, that's good. I used to have a therapist actually."  
“Used to, why not now?” Trott asked.  
“I don't need people telling me more than once that I'm not safe for society, the most they could have diagnose me with was Narcissistic personality disorder but even then that didn't come close to what they 'observed' from my behaviour. Pretentious pieces of shit who have their heads so far up their own ass they'll never see the light of day.” Ridge complained, rolling his eyes and smiling as the three other men laughed at him.  
“They have a point though.” Smith stated, turning the ice again.  
“You are so far up your own arse Ridge.” Ross said, laughing as Ridge flipped him off. “All done, keep the ice held to the bruise.”  
“Thank you. And look, it's ten past one!” Ridge said with a slight scowl. “He's late but that's okay, he's usually late.”  
“Who is?” Ross asked with curiosity.  
“He's a new guy, Liam formally, but he's just Nilesy to us.” Ridge replied. “He's actually an Overlooker...mini boss of sorts...” He mused with vaguely mild interest. Ridge got up and walked to the front room they had talked in previously. “We'll see his car from in here.” He called.

 

Before the three had followed Ridge they talked in hushed voices, but it was more of a small argument.  
“Why the hell is he hiring someone from the people were trying to take down? Also, why the fuck did he say he was with The Overlookers?” Smith whispered angrily, crossing his arms and standing in front of Ross and Trott.  
“I don't know, do you think I like it?” Ross replied, just as angry.  
“Can we trust him? You took us here first...” Trott said, frowning.  
“Yes. I know we can trust him – I trust few people in my life you know, being an assassin and all!” Ross said, his words dripping with sarcasm.  
“Oh fuck off, he has an Overlooker boss visiting us for all we know-” Smith started, but was cut off.  
“Don't you trust me?” Ross asked. He tried to hide the hurt in his voice but his composure wavered a little.  
“Of course we do, we don't trust Ridge, even if you do.” Trott said, rubbing his hand over Ross's arm reassuringly. “We'll see how this goes, Smith, we will stay here and find out what's happening and if we don't like it we leave, okay?”  
Smith reluctantly nodded then turned and walked out without a word before Trott and Ross followed him.  
“He worries.” Trott sighed, “And with good reason too.”  
“I'm just as confused and annoyed at Ridge as you are. I've just known him a long, long, time.” Ross explained. “If he ever puts either you or Alex in danger though...”  
“Just...we'll deal with this later. For now, we get it over with. We won't mention we heard much of what he said, and we'll not talk about it in case he's watching us or has possible bugged us.” Trott said then put on a smile as he walked into the front room.

 

“Look what the cat dragged in.” Ridge said as, who Ross assumed Ridge was talking about, Nilesy walked up from the gates. Ridge waved at Nilesy as he drew nearer, beckoning him to come inside.  
Nilesy had long-ish raven hair, glasses, a suit which looked like it cost much more than was necessary and a briefcase.  
“Ridge! Oh god, what happened to you?” He said, walking in with a wave and a neither strong nor mild Scottish accent.  
“Just a bit of torture, nothing much. I owe an explanation to these guys, Ross, Trott, Smith, this is Nilesy.” Ridge said, and Ross waved according, as did Trott and Smith.  
“Hello, I'm Nilesy of course, how's your day been? Good? Good. Lets get down to it then if Ridge hasn't told you what's happening – I hate it when he does that, don't you?”  
“Yeah, I do.” Ross said, glancing accusingly at Ridge who just waved it off.  
“I always have my reasons.” He said.  
“Okay,” Nilesy said, placing the briefcase on the table and opening it, “plans, and lots of them. I have control over the financial management of The Overlookers. I get access to pretty much everything, but not everything of course because that would be silly on their part, and by their I mean the higher managers – I'm getting off track. I've been working closely with Ridge over the past year conveying info out.”  
“We need information, see?” Ridge interjected.  
“Yes, we do see. Stop interrupting me. Anyway, we can't take down The Overlookers guy by guy, that's so extremely risky – we need a one shot kill. These are the building plans to the main building, you need to memorise these. Cameras are on the key, so are invisible laser grids, key card access ports, the usual security stuff. Here is a list of times when all the managers are present. You can't bomb the place though, blast resistant concrete see?” Nilesy said, pulling various sheets of paper from his case.  
“This is all well and good, but we can't do a one hit kill on these guys.” Ridge stated, leaning back in his seat and looking distractedly outside.  
“Can you hire the men? Will they be good enough to not give your name when they're tortured?” Nilesy asked.  
“Yes.” Was the only thing Ridge said, looking directly at Nilesy.  
“Then you better get working to find these guys because I've heard that the head boss wants to fully take control of the Los Santos, the government, everything.” Nilesy warned. “Anyway, I do have places to be too. This was only a quick visit on my part. Keep these files, contact me when you need more stuff.”  
“Wait, before you, if you work for The Overlookers why are you trying to take them down?” Trott asked, sitting forwards.  
“They...killed someone close to me. Someone very close… I'm in it for the justice. They don't know that he was my friend... I'm getting my revenge.” He said darkly, standing up to leave. “Well,” his mood completely changing, “nice to meet you guys, I hope we have fun taking down the most dangerous organisation in Los Santos. Goodbye!” He waved, then walked out of the room. Moments later he was walking down the garden to the gates.  
“You should leave too.” Ridge said, his cheery tone from before having seeped from him in the space of a few minutes, replaced with a casual spite. “Oh, and Ross? Time's running out.”  
“Good day.” Ross said curtly, knowing full well Ridge meant the assassination of Trott and Smith and if Ridge really was working with The Overlookers, this confirmed it. He stood up and walked out. Ross heard Trott and Smith say goodbye, waited a second, then walked with them in silence to the car.

The silence was suffocating.


	7. Who we are

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Three people, connected by fate at first sight, but nothing and everything is always them.

“Smith. You haven't talked for the whole journey.” Trott stated as the three walked into the living room.

“Why? Why do I need to if he is _part_ of the organisation we're _taking down?_ ” Smith said in a quiet, controlled voice.

“Ridge knows what he's doing.” Ross replied, sighing in exasperation, rubbing his left temple as he leant on the door.

“Oh, and that's an excuse? Have you always been out of the loop?” Smith retorted.

“Yes, yes I have, do you think I like it any more than you do?” Ross said angrily.

“Well you certainly seem to do with all the glorifying you do of him!” Alex shouted.

“And you're, what, jealous?” Ross shouted, throwing his hands up.

“No – what do you fucking think?” Alex spat, his voice dripping with venom.

“Smith stop-”

“Fuck off Trott.” Alex hissed, turning his back to them both.

“No you shut the fuck up - Ross you too. Both of you sit the fuck down and talk like civilised people.” Chris demanded, but it fell on deaf ears.

“Why? Why should I just stand here and let him.” Alex jerked his finger into Ross chest “dictate everything we do?”

“I don't dictate anything!” Ross snapped, pushing smith's hand away

“So you turn up out of the fucking blue and fuck our lives up, great going there.” Alex snarled, sarcasm layering his words.

“You didn't fuck our lives up Ross.” Chris sighed, rubbing a hand on his cheek.

“We'd be a lot better off if he wasn't here!” Alex yelled, pacing for a second before crossing his arms and standing defensively.

“You don't mean that and you fucking know it.” Chris hissed

“He fucked us up! Now we have some narcissistic twat who _he_ loves to pieces-”

“No – no he doesn't! you're just being an insufferable twat!” Chris shouted.

“You don’t like it because I'm speaking the truth.” Alex said angrily.

“Why the fuck do you think - why are you acting like a child?” Chris accused.

“I'm not acting like a child, Chris.” Alex spat.

“You really fucking seem to be! Just because you don’t like this-”

“Does it matter if I do or I don’t like any of this? It doesn't matter for your precious Ridge, does it?” Alex shouted, directing his words to Ross.

“Of course it doesn't, he doesn't care about you!” Ross shouted.

“And, and you do, oh I definitely see how much you care” Alex spat.

“Oh fuck off, you know you’re wrong.” Ross hissed.

“No – why should I? I _hate_ this-”

“So leave. Get out of the organisation.“Chris said blankly.

“Maybe I fucking should!” Alex said, splaying his arms.

“Don't even think about it.” Ross sighed.

“Why not? So you can control us even more?”

“Us? You, you mean?” Chris said, “Ross isn't controlling, you just can't-”

“And now you're ganging up on me.” Alex accused.

“No one is ganging up on you, you're creating this out of spite-” Chris muttered, but Ross cut him off.

“It's not out of spite, it's because he cares.” Ross pointed out.

“How does he care if he's stood there screaming at me!” Chris shouted.

“Don't talk about me as if I'm not here.” Alex complained, turning away.

“Well you've been been doing that to me and Ross.” Chris shot back. “Do you not trust us or what?”

“I don't. Trust. Ridge.” Alex said with gritted teeth.

“Ross trusts Ridge.” Chris argued, but Ross himself was starting to have his doubts.

“And that justifies it? Oh, we're going to this, this – guy I know – trust me, we're not going to, I dunno, fucking – die!” Alex sputtered, running his hand over his face.

“Is that what this is about?” Chris asked quietly.

“Of course it fucking is.” Alex sighed.

“Then we'll stop.” Ross said.

“What?” Alex asked, stunned.

“We'll stop going, stop doing this if it makes you all better.” Ross spat.

“I just – fuck – I don’t want either of you to die and it seem like its getting more likely each day.” Alex whispered, his hands covering his eyes.

“Alex...” Chris trailed off.

“I cant- I – don’t trust ridge because everything he does makes it more likely for you two to die and I cant- I don’t – I fuck...I'm sorry...I just...” he paused “Can't deal with it” choked out. “I can't deal with the thought of you two dying.” Alex's eyes teared up and he turned away in anger and frustration.

“Alex... why didn't you just say that...” Ross sighed, walking over to Alex and drawing him into his arms. “You need to tell us these things.”

“I... I'm not good with words.” Alex said, tears trickling down his face.

“We can tell.” Chris said, hugging Alex from behind. “We don't mind, but please, _always_ tell us how you feel, okay?”

“You are so much more important than some stupid gang thing.” Ross reassured as he wiped the tears from Alex's cheeks. “We love you. I'm sorry for shouting and yelling, in the future we'll listen to each other.”

“I'm sorry too, I shouldn’t have shouted either.” Chris said.

“I'm sorry for not talking about my feelings, I'll do that more in the future.” Alex said with a small and quiet laugh.

“Anyone want cuppa?” Chris asked tentatively, smiling when Ross chuckled.

“Yeah, grand designs is on soon, isn't it.” Ross said, pulling Alex to sit down on the sofa with him.

“20 minutes time.” Chris said, “We can laugh at some idiots driving themselves into mass amount of debt for nothing.” He finished, then walked to the kitchen.

Alex leant on Ross's chest with one leg over Ross's and one hand holding Ross's shirt. Ross rested his head on Alex's, his arms embracing him tenderly.

“I love you.” Ross whispered against Alex's hair, “You mean the world and more to me. Don't ever doubt that.”

“I love you too, Ross, I love you too.” Alex sniffed with a smile.

And with every fibre in his body, Alex knew it was true.

 

 

“C'mon Ross!” Smith shouted, chasing Trott past the pile of logs that lined the base of Mount Chiliad. “I'd have thought you were more athletic with the way you act in bed!”

“God, Smith, I'm running as fast as I can!”

“Not fast enough!” Trott called, looking back for a split second before giggling as Smith's fingers brushed his back, not enough to grab him but enough to make him run faster.

“Also, I'm carrying food!” Ross complained, running faster to keep up with them.

“Faster!” Smith laughed, still not able to grab Trott. Ross laughed breathlessly and ran after the two, already despising the climbing angle of the ground.

 

Soon their chatter turned to breathless comments and the grass started to thin and give way for gravely rock on which the three sat down on, the fluffy blanket they had brought making the patchy grass softer than it seemed.

“We need to spend more days like this.” Ross said, “It's getting warmer too.” At this he pulled off his shirt, sweating into it wasn't exactly what Ross wanted to do.

“I have some sun cream with us, it might be a bit cold though. It's near the ice block in the basket, Smith.” Trott said.

“Here,” Smith passed Trott the bottle, “What drink do you guys want?”

“Ooh, that's nice and cold, errr, cola? Thanks.” Ross said, catching the can Smith tossed to him.

“Trott?”

“I'll have coke too, let me rub this onto Ross though.” Trott said. “You're skin's healed really well too. The only scar you have is the one on your back and even then it's fading really fast.”

“I'm glad, it looks ugly.” Ross sighed, rolling his head back as Trott massaged the cream onto his shoulders.

“Nah, it doesn't look ugly at all. Just another bit of you.” Trott smiled.

“I don't like how you got it though.” Smith sighed. “I don't like you being hurt.”

“It'll be fine, we'll really fuck up the guys who did this.” Trott said, wiping his hands on the blanket.

“You know yesterday? What did Ridge mean with the whole 'Time's running out' thing?” Smith asked casually.

“Maybe he knows something we don't? Well, he always knows something we don't...but...” Ross mused, trailing off while ignoring the stab of ice in his heart.

“It could be that he's trying to scare us into...I dunno – we have the big group meet up soon, don't we?” Trott said.

“Yeah, that's in a few weeks time.” Smith confirmed.

“He's doing something...it's not like him to act this way. Yes, he is very narcissistic, but the mood swing yesterday? He has to be up to something with Nilesy.” Ross speculated, sipping his coke.

“Yeah, but we don't have to deal with for two weeks, we just get to chill.” Trott sighed happily.

“I like just sitting around, even if we don't talk, it's comfortable.” Smith said. He stood up and pushed the shade umbrella they had brought with them into the ground then he pulled his shirt off before laying back down on the blanket.

Ross couldn't help but stare at Smith's chest. He was defined but not sculpted, it fit who Smith was. Ross knew that Smith went on jogs, usually midday and 3 or 4 times a week, but he didn't know if Smith stopped to do push ups or sit ups. It looked like he did, the way his muscles stretched around him, taunt as Smith stretched his arms behind his head. The sun that the umbrella didn't block out flowed over his abs in golden waves rippled over his chest.

“I can see you both starring and I love it.” Smith smirked, pulling his sunglasses onto his head from where they had rested on his shirt.

“Can you blame us?” Trott said, “I need to start working out.”

“I need to actually get some sun.” Ross said, “I'm like marble or something.”

“You're a pale and mysterious beauty.” Smith said, “Trott, you'd be hotter if you took your shirt off mate.”

“I haven't got the abs for it.” Trott said, but he took his shirt off anyway and blushed as Ross wolf whistled.

“I know some good work out routines...” Smith winked much to the embarrassment of Trott.

“Do all of them involve some sort of-”

“Plowing you into any hard surface I can? Fuck yes.” Smith said with a smirk.

“Whoa, don't I get to plow him too?” Ross said with a playful whine, side glancing at Trott who's blush reddened as he look down with a smile, shaking his head.

“Were both gonna plow you mate!” Smith shouted with gritted teeth, breaking off into laughter as Trott looked up with a hilariously startled expression.

“I don't think my butt could fit-”

“We'll make 'em fit!” Ross joined in, laughing at the end as Trott flipped them both off.

“I'll shove a log up your arse!” Smith shouted, lifting his arms as if he had a log.

“Holy fucking- _no_ Smith!” Trott laughed, protesting by holding his hands up as Smith sprawled out towards Trott, pulling him down into Ross's lap so the three were in a pile of limbs and laughter.

“I'm glad we can just take a break, ya know? Being a criminal gets a bit tiring sometimes.” Smith sighed wistfully.

“Yeah, I used to get _so_ many breaks...” Ross said sarcastically, but with a smile. He looked over to Smith who was grinning at him, his eyes crinkling behind his sunglasses.

“You could choose who to kill and who not to though.” Trott said, laying his head on Ross's chest while he tangled his legs with Smith's.

“Hmmm, I guess I did... nice to lay out here with you both though. Like, all the planning and talk of killing and actually....killing, it weighs down on you a lot.” Ross replied, the other two humming in agreement.

“I want more time like this, just us.” Smith said, dragged a hand over to Ross's hair, playing it.

“It's 'us' a lot of the time mate.” Trott laughed, his chuckles bouncing over the air.

“Fuck off Trott, I mean like _this_. You know what this is? It's a date.” Smith smiled.

“Double date?” Ross asked, and knowing Smith he'd reply with something suggestive, which he did.

“Double pounding for Trott more like.”

“I literally cannot fit two dicks in my asshole Smith, we've just been over this!” Trott defended, crossing his arms over his chest.

“We could try.” Ross muttered into Trott's ear, laughing with Smith as Trott sat up and flipped them both off behind his back before he moved to rummage through the basket.

“Aww, Trotty, we could try putting two dicks up Ross's arse.” Smith suggested while Ross sputtered something about 'maybe...well not really' and Trott chuckled.

“I do like that idea more. Why not your arse though, Smith?”

“My arse is A+, supreme, and will not be dirtied by two cocks.” He proudly announced, puffing out his chest.

“Ah, you're a one a time kinda guy.” Ross asked.

“Wait, I didn't mean it like _that_ so no-”

“No? I would’ve thought that the lovely Alex Smith would love to take a pounding from-” Trott ginned mischievously while he sat back between Smith a Ross.

“I think this conversation is over!” Smith shouted with a laugh, “Besides, we can just chill. If I'm being honest, I don't think I could bring myself to do _anything_ today.”

“You've literally done nothing today anyway!” Ross said, remembering how Smith had stumbled out of bed and fallen back to sleep on the sofa with his head in Trott's lap.

“Shut up Ross.” Smith murmured with a smirk, knowing he was right.

 

The conversation from then on seemed to drift away with the spring breeze in exchange for slow breaths and the occasional contented sigh. For Ross, it was intoxicating. Just feeling Trott next to him, just holding Smith's hand, it all felt like a surreal dream or an illusion that he never wanted to drag his eyes away from. He never had to. Ross hadn't known how these feelings crept up on him but he didn't mind and wouldn't change anything. His gaze swept over the two people he had grown to love, and he smiled, he couldn't help if even if he wanted to try. He could feel his heart race for some time and it pulled back his feelings of giddiness and exhilaration, how he felt unjustly nervous around them. The butterflies that would never leave his stomach fluttered to his mind, and left his heart trembling as he just gazed at the two people he loved. Reminiscing over everything that had happened, Ross wasn't surprised at all that he had fallen head over heels for these two people. Something inside him told him that Trott and Smith could've had that attraction well before he came along, but that didn't matter. Ross was content with the now, it felt like a reality of a dream that his mind had created from the ashes of his old life.

“Have I ever told you both that I love you?” Ross said. It had escaped his thoughts and flow from his lips, pulling him from his stupor.

“Hmm...” Smith hummed happily, “I love you both too.”

“It almost feels like we've known each other for all our lives, but none of it.” Trott said. “Love, eh?”

“Yeah...it feels amazing.” Ross sighed. His thoughts went so mushy and sporadic around them he couldn't really focus on what they were saying.

 

 

They stayed like this until the sun started to grow low in the sky, empty plates and glasses stacked in a corner of the blanket.

“It's getting dark guys, we should head home.” Trott said, getting up and stretching his arms above his head.

“Yeah, also, I'm starving.” Smith said, piling the plates and cups into the basket.

“We literally had lunch, what, 3 hours ago?” Ross said with dubiousness.

“Yeah, but mate, see, I'm _hungry_.” Smith whined, smiling and giving Ross a hand up.

“We'll get Chinese or something. Watch a movie.” Trott said as he picked up the blanket.

“I like the sound of that, hurry up.” Smith said as he and Ross walked off, not waiting for Trott.

“Hey!”

“Hurry up, I said it at least 5 times!” Smith protested. Walking on as Ross waited for Trott to run to them.

“He said it once.” Trott grumbled, smiling as Ross took the large blanket from him.

“Well, I'm kinda hungry too. What movie d'you wanna watch?”

“Shouldn't we all decide?”

“Nah. How about classic crime, 'The Godfather.'” Ross suggested.

“Really? Why not, I dunno, 'The Breakfast Club'?”

“Oh, I haven't watched that in ages. The Breakfast Club it.” Ross smiled, shaking his head as Smith sounded the car horn.

“Smith likes that movie too. It's a change from his usual faves which include everything blowing up. What kinda movie guy are you?” Trott asked as they got to the car.

“I'm more of a rom com guy.” Ross smiled guiltily, getting in the back as Trott got in the front.

“Smith, Chinese, The Breakfast Club. Home.” Trott ordered, shouting in protest as Smith pushed his head to the side.

“Can't order me to do shit mate.”

“I think you'll find he can.” Ross warned, “Also, you were the one who wanted Chinese.”

“What do you mean 'I think you'll find-”

“Ah, shut it Smith.” Trott said, turning on the radio.

“Nope. I like this song.” He said, turning up the volume so he could belt out the lyrics while Ross hummed along and Trott just shook his head.

 

“Aww, they're gonna kiss – look, oh my gosh, look how cute they are!” Ross gushed as the two characters on screen leaned to each other slowly.

“Ross, seriously, it's just them kissing.” Smith said with a roll of his eyes, but he smiled at Ross nonetheless as he watched him grip a pillow to his chest.

“Smith, it's more than a kiss, it's-”

“Adorable?” Trott supplied as Ross stopped talking when the two characters locked lips.

“ _Enchanting_.” Ross sighed as his grin turned into a gleeful smile, then a bashful one as both Smith and Trott erupted into laughter. “Guys...” He said reproachfully, crossing his legs to take up more space on the already small sofa.

“Enchanting, Jesus, at least we know you're a huge sappy romantic.” Smith laughed, wiping his eyes.

“Fuck off.”

“It's endearing.” Smith said, flinging an arm into the air dramatically.

“It's magical!” Trott joined in, throwing an arm around Ross's waist while resting his head on Ross's shoulder.

“Like fireflies in the night sky!”

“Like Daisy and Gatsby's love!”

“Gatsby is not a good representation of love, actually it's rather-” Ross started, then stopped and sighed as Smith sang out 'Daisy and Gatsby, Daisy and Gatsby!'”  
“Just watch the movie.”

“Aww, Rossy, didn't mean to make you upset.” Smith apologised, but his grin suggested otherwise.

“Yeah, yeah, fine. Don't expect me to spoon _you_ tonight.”

“I'm getting' all his lovin' tonight darling.” Trott said, leaning fully onto Ross's side.

“C'mon guys...” Smith protested with mock hurt, “there aren't any guns or explosions – well there are, explosions of _looooove_....”

“Fuck off Smith.” Ross said, pushing Smith's head gently.

“Yeah, fuck off Smith.” Trott echoed, rolling his eyes.

“Trott!”

“Don't ruin the movie.” Trott said pompously, folding his arm as he looked to the T.V.

“It's nearly finished now.” Ross stated. “Actually, what kind of movie guy are you Trott? You never mentioned anything.”

“Trott? Oh, he's a murder movie guy.” Smith said darkly.

“Wait – really?” Ross replied, “I didn't expect that.”

“Did you think I would be into, what, sci-fi or something?” Trott asked, looking up to Ross.

“Actually, yeah.” Ross said with a small smile.

“Nah, he gets off on it.” Smith commented, turning his attention briefly to the final scenes. “Just stick a hand down there and goes to fucking town mate!” Gritting his teeth for effect.

“I'd rather it be my hand than yours Smith.” Trott said nonchalantly.

“Oh, he'd rather fuck himself than you!” Ross interjected, chuckling as he saw Smith scowl.

“Fuck off Trott mate.”

“Don't think I will.”

“Fuck me then.” Smith said suggestively, waggling his eyebrows comically.

“Now that-”

“Is something I'd rather do.” Ross said, interrupting their bickering

“How long do you think it'd take him to strip and spread himself on the bed?” Trott mused.

“Definitely more than 5 minutes.”

“That long? I'd have thought less than 2...”

“If you promise a good fuck I can do it in 1.” Smith said, pressing a hand to Ross's chest.

“Not tonight, I'm too tired to be honest.” Ross said, suppressing a yawn with a deep breath. “I'll just move the rubbish and I'm gonna go to bed.”

“Leave 'em till morning.” Trott said. He stood up and stretched, his arms high above his head.

“God no, it takes a few seconds and it's worth it.” Ross said as too stood up and started to gather the plates and various containers that had once had food in them.

“He does have a point.” Smith shrugged, helping to carry some containers. “Do I get to be a medium spoon now that Trott the dick over there didn't help clean up?”

“Smith!”

“Oh yes, medium spoon it is.”

“I wanted to be the medium spoon though.” Trott huffed, crossing his arms then walking out of the room.

“Shouldn't have been a dick mate!” Smith called out. He dumped the containers he was holding into the bin and washed his hands while Ross slid their plates into the sink and rinsed his hands too which ended in a small scuffle for the stream of water.

“Guys! You better not be givin' blowies without me!”

“Huh, could do that.” Ross contemplated, but he Smith shook his head.

“Nah, let’s just cuddle. I'm the middle spoon, remember?” He grinned, wiping his hands on his trousers.

“How could I ever forget?” Ross said. He wrapped an arm around Smith's waist and they both walked to their bedroom.

“Finally.” Trott mumbled. He was laid in just his boxers in the middle of the bed, head resting on his arms.

“Nuh uh, I'm the middle spoon. Shift it Trotty.” Smith growled with a smile as he stripped.

“Make me.”

“Fine.”

“Guys really?” Ross sighed with a smile, rolling his eyes as Smith threw his boxers at him then crawled onto the bed, prowling over to Trott.

“Trotty here's gonna move. Either that or I fuck him, then he moves.”

“Oh no you don't.” Trott whispered, pushing out his leg so Smith half fell onto him then he lifted his hips and rolled over Smith so he was straddling him.

“Ah fuck.” Smith said breathily, running his hands from Trott's chest up to his shoulders.

“Let's fuck him right now, Ross.” Trott said, smiling devilishly and kneeling up while cracking his fingers.

“I wouldn't actually mind but-” Smith half protested, but Ross cut in.

“Actually...maybe tomorrow? I really am tired.” Ross said, “also, I wanna be the middle spoon when we fuck.”

“Aww really?” Trott protested, “Middle spoon is the best spoon.” he grumbled, arms crossed.

“You only did this because _I'm_ the middle spoon.” Smith said, pushing Trott of him gently.

“Fuck off.” He mumbled, curling into Smith's side.

“Nah mate, Ross get the lights?”

“Sure.”

Ross flicked them off then half stumbled back to the bed, snuggling into Smith's side and humming with a smile as Smith wrapped him into a hug.

“Still don't see why I can't be the middle spoon.” Trott mumbled but he wrapped his arms arm Smith anyway, loosely holding Ross's hand of the other side of Smith.

“Trott?”

“Hmm?”

“Fuck off.” Smith whispered into the dark while Ross smiled and rested into Smith's chest.

 


	8. Am I sadistic? Am I deranged?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There is a scene in which Trott initiates the torture of someone, if you have any triggers relating to that, please read carefully and skip that particular scene. Thank you~

“Okay, Smith and I just got off the phone with Ridge and we told him to come here, and he's agreed. You need to be travelling not on the Great Ocean Highway but close to it, a ring road or something maybe.”

“I'll set off now, be safe-” Ross said, pecking Trott on the cheek, “and promise you'll text if even so much as _one_ thing goes wrong-” Ross pecked Smith on the cheek too, “I'll see you guys later.”

“See you later.”

“Bye Ross.”

Ross walked out of the house and shut the door, already feel shaky and nervous about the whole situation. He took a deep steadying breath and got into his car, pulling onto the road to start the long drive down the highway. It wasn't long before he got to the turn off for Tongva Drive and he slowed down, cruising into the city. Just before he turned for Richman Street Ross saw Ridge two cars ahead and so he turned his eyes to the road, avoiding contact and knowledge of Ridge but the man's red Bullet was overly flashy. Watching the car pass in his rear view mirror Ross pulled over and sent a quick text to Smith's phone telling him he'd just passed Ridge and that he'd wait about 10 minutes before setting off back home.

 

“Smith, I need you to promise me something.”

“Anything Trott.”

“Never visit the place we're going without me.”

“Okay? I'll promise, but why?”

“You know what I’m going to do. It's not a secret, I'm showing you this place today, just don't go without me.” Trott whispered against Smith's chest, leaning into the intoxicating warmth.

“Ridge will be here any minute.” Smith sighed, sitting up from where he was leant on the sofa.

“Okay,” Trott replied as he too sat up. “You answer the door though. We only need him inside for a minute or so before we can knock him out. Then we get him in the car, wait for Ross, then we all go together.” Trott said, running through the plan to calm himself.

As if on cue their doorbell rang, chiming happily to a short tune as Smith stood up and pressed one last kiss to Trott's cheek before he went to answer the door.

“Ridge! Thank god, come on in.” Smith said, no smiles as he pretended to shift his eyes around the space behind Ridge.

“Hey Ridge come on in.” Trott called from the living room, smoothing his hair as he leant back on the sofa.

“Hi guys. Though a bit about Ross?”

“Yeah, we have.”

“I saw him actually. On the way here, he was driving somewhere, obviously, but I don't think he noticed me.” Ridge said with a smirk as he sank into the chair he had taken before.

“Actually, it's funny really.” Trott said as he stood up.

“You're not laughing but go ahead.”

“It's funny you're so gullible, dick head.” Smith whispered into Ridge's ear before bringing a metal baseball bat down onto his head, knocking Ridge into unconsciousness.

“Right, that's one step. Number 2, tie him up. I'll open the boot of the car and we'll lift him in.” Smith said, already passing some rope to Trott.

“Okay, I'll get his legs, you get his arms.” Trott said, then he began to wind the rope around Ridge's ankles. Just as they began to drag him to their garage Ross pulled in, parking nearest their door.

“Help us with this prick, mate.” Smith called, and Ross jogged over to lift Ridge's body into the boot.

“Sure, you both okay?”

“We're fine, but this guy won't be.” Trott said darkly, slamming the boot down. As the three climbed into the car Trott took the driver’s seat and began to drive down the Ocean Highway but he turned onto a dirt road, littered with rocks and overgrown grass, sprawling bushes and unruly trees. After some time the path wound round and Trott stopped by a small clearing just by the road. It was almost just a dip in the bushes, but it was there. Trott got out and went over into the dip while Smith and Ross carried Ridge from the boot to where Trott was stood.

“Forget this place for an hour.” Trott said, “Go for a walk, do something, but forget about here.”

Ross and Smith both nodded nervously before walking away on the trail.

“I hope he stays safe.” Smith said as he caught Ross's hand.

“I do too.” Ross said, squeezing Smith's hand in reassurance.

 

Trott sat in a small windowless room. It was warm, not deathly warm, but nice. Opposite him was Ridge, strapped to a metal chair with leather straps and steel buckles, unconscious. Beside Trott on a tray was a collection of his most favourite pieces of equipment: a  small screwdriver that had been sharpened to a point, a serrated knife with chunks carved out at equal intervals to create sharp teeth into the blade, 3 syringes and various pills which Trott might or might not use, a crowbar which was slightly misshapen at the end, bent backwards from previous uses, a clean length of barbed wire, a sledgehammer, a lighter (Smith's second favourite, even though none of them smoke. Smith was somewhat of a pyromaniac), a length of rope, a pair of scissors, and, Trott's favourite instrument, the ornate knife Ross had given him. Staring at it now, it's glistening blade, sharp, deadly and angular. The blade was made of smooth blue-green sapphire, layers of hues of diluted blues and ocean greens that melted into cut facets up to the rear of the hilt. “Tanto style point, half-length blade swage, thumb rise, fishtail rear bolster” Ross had said, “Real silver, you want to keep that clean.” Ever since Ross had given it to him Trott had always carried it safely in his back pocket. Picking it up from the square of silk he had placed it on, Trott held the sharp blade on one thumb, the hilt with his other thumb, and he rotated it slowly, watching it catch the dim light and reflect the dingy walls of the small box room.

A small groan opposite him pulled Trott from his captivation and he looked up to stare at Ridge as he lifted his head up and he feebly wrestled in vain against his restraints.

Trott looked up and idly played with the buttons on the walkman he had brought with him, placed on his belt. It was turned off now but inside it was a mix tape of some of his favourite songs.

“Hello, Ridge.” Trott began, “you don't look too good. I wonder why that could be.”

“...what...do...to me?” Ridge murmurer, his voice dipping to nothing as he slowly woke up.

“Oh, don't worry darling, you're fine here. With me. You see, were going to have a little chat, you and me.” Trott said. He placed his dagger back on its silk cloth and steepled his fingers.

“Do you want information?” Ridge asked, then he smiled. “You could have just asked me, Trott.”

“Oh no, Torture's for the torturer...or for the guy giving orders to the torturer. You torture for the good times – we should all admit that. It's useless as a means of getting information.” Trott explained with a dark humourless smile. “What information would I want anyway? The reason I'm here and you're here with me is because you tried to get me, and Alex to believe Ross was going to kill us.”

“I nearly got away with it, it was good, wasn't it?” Ridge said with a smirk.

“You did pretty well, I'll admit to that, for a second it was almost believable.” Trott said, then he stopped speaking. Ridge looked at him, waiting for him to speak more, but Trott stayed quiet.

“Trott? We can't you sit here all day. You're going to torture me, right? Get on with it.”

“I will, like I said – don't worry. It's just you and me darling, just you and me.” Trott purred, his eyes gazing hungrily over his various instruments on the tray beside him. “I'm going to ask you one thing though...why? You have money, you can get what you want, and you’re connected.”

“I did it for the fun.”

“So we were boring you, were we?”

“Of course you were! Do you really think you can take down The Overlookers?”

“Yes. Maybe I'm a fool for it, but the only thing you can be is a beautiful little fool, wishing for the world and more.”

“You are so very strange on your own.”

“I don't have Alex or Ross to keep me sane. I'm not saying you should worry, on my account, please don't.” Trott said. He stood up and stalked towards Ridge, grabbing his throat to pull his head up, but not to strangle him. Trott couldn't help his smile, he could feel his eyes grow wide and his lips pull away from his teeth so much that his cheeks hurt. The pain was satisfying.

“You're not intimidating.”

“You're only saying that to convince yourself otherwise.” Trott pointed out, pushing Ridge's head back down.

“And if I wasn't saying it to convince myself otherwise?” Ridge taunted, reflecting Trott's words.

“You really would be a beautiful little fool.” Trott breathed, smiling. His calm, the mask he had painted over his thoughts was breaking, cracking at the seams and falling away. He could _feel_ his rage bubble, slowly, torturously in his mind, he could _feel_ it crawl under his skin, ravishing in the blood that would run over his skin, divulge in the blood that wasn't his own. Behind him, Trott could hear Ridge take in a shaky breath. Trott smiled.

“We'll begin now, hmm? How about we start with some...” Trott paused, hovering over his table. He picked up the barbed wire, and let out the breath he didn't know he was holding. “...barbed wire? I think I could do _some_ sort of damage with it.” Trott turned and walked slowly back to Ridge. “Alex suggested this, you know?”

“Oh, so your _boyfriends_ know what you're up to then?” Ridge sneered. That was a mistake, but Trott would ignore it for now.

“Yes...and no. They think were just talking, or rather, I’m negotiating.” Trott explained, fiddling with the wire in his hands. Smith definitely knew, he’d have some explaining to do to Ross. “We are though, aren't we? Just...talking. That has to stop though, unless you really _want_ to talk to me while I'm dealing with our pathetic waste of a life.” Trott trailed off, sadistic thoughts of what he could do to Ridge filled his mind...

He could slowly break every single bone on Ridge's hand, then his arm, a few ribs, he could strangle him, hear the last breaths of a self-proclaimed demi-god rattle in his throat before it feebly runs away from his lungs, he could cut _so_ many veins, so much blood could drip away and steal everything Ridge proclaimed he was, so much to do but only one body to do it to.

“Trott?” Ridge asked tentatively, _shakily_. That small hint of worry Trott could hear made his heart race.

“Ridge.”

“Really, what are you doing? I wasn't planning against you with Nilesy, we need him-”

“NO.” Trott shouted, whirling around and slapping Ridge so hard that Ridge head hit the back of the chair. “We. Don't.” Trott breathed. He lent into Ridge's neck and licked his skin, breathing hotly and laughing as Ridge gulped silently. “We don't need you.”

“Oh I think you do.”

“Tell that to me when you're 6 feet under and Ross and Alex and I rule the city.” Trott retorted. He stalked around Ridge, standing behind him and lowering the wire over his head to hover in front of Ridge's neck.

“Trott,” Ridge half gasped, “Trott please.”

“Please what?” Trott chuckled darkly.

“Don't do this.”

As his reply Trott jerked the wire back. He felt it draw taut around Ridge's neck, he could hear Ridge's cry and loud gasp as he began to choke, his breaths turning to morbid rattles. Then, Trott let go.

“Trott-” Ridge gasped, pulling against his restraints.

“You sound so pretty like that, gasping my name.”

“You're getting off on this.”

“No, I'm just happy to know my name is going to be the last thing on your lips.” Trott threatened, tying the wire loosely around Ridge's neck to he could choke him whenever he pleased. “Maybe if you answer a few questions though, maybe we can come to some sort of agreement. After all, this is only a power play. A reminder of who you are really dealing with.”

“Fine, I'll play along.” Ridge said, but he wasn't smiling now. “What is it you want to know.”

“Not what, who. I want to know about Hannah.”

“Why Hannah? She has nothing to do with our operation.”

“I know you've been meeting with her, sunshine.” Trott began, trailing a hand over his table of equipment. “So, enlighten me as to why she has nothing to do with our operation.”

“Well...In all honesty she does-”

“I fucking guessed that.” Trott sneered, picking up the cold metal crowbar. He twisted it around as he calculated his next words. “Do you know about her involvement with Lewis and his...business?”

“His business? The only thing Hannah and I were doing was planning to...”

“Planning to what?” Trott questioned as he walked slowly back to Ridge with the crowbar. Ridge gulped and looked away. “Fine, we'll do this the hard way.”

Trott slammed the flat rod of the crowbar across Ridge's chest resulting in a huffed cry from him, flakes of old dried blood left spots on Ridge's white shirt.

“I'll ask you again. What were you and Hannah planning to do.”

Silence.

Trott brought the crowbar down again, channelling the crawling anger into his arms as he smashed the bar against Ridge but only a small cry fell from his lips. Fury took a hold of Trott as he cast the crowbar to the side with a resonating clash of metal on stone and he grabbed the sharp screwdriver instead, tossing it between his hands as he sat down in Ridge's lap.

“You need to learn to be more cooperative, sunshine.” Trott whispered, poison curling his words into oily feather light breaths in the cold damp air.

“I don't need to-”

“Did I say you could talk?” Trott shouted, snapping his elbow up to Ridge's jaw. As Ridge's head was forced back Trott twisted to grab the wire around Ridge's neck to pull him back down. Ridge stayed silent. “If you're not going to answer that fine, I don't need the answers. I want them, but I don't need them.” Trott mused, letting go of the wire as he stood up to contemplate what he would do next. Trott was getting bored of light scratches and intimidation so it was time to do some real damage.

“How about I persuade your words with a few slits here and there, hmm?” Trott asked, his fingers gliding over to the screwdriver.

“Trott, why are you really-”

“Stop speaking, your voice hurts my ears.”

“Why are you doing this!” Ridge shouted, and for once Trott saw true fear in Ridge's eyes which sent shivers down his spine as a silent gasp escaped his lips.

“You hurt Ross, and you hurt Smith.” Trott said, leaning over Ridge as he supported himself on Ridge's arms. “Now,” He whispered, ducking his head to Ridge's ear, “I'm gonna hurt you.”

With quick precision Trott sliced into Ridge's upper left arm, the cut immediately welling with rich, red, crimson blood which trickled down Ridge's arm. The hiss that escaped Ridge's lips pushed Trott on as he sliced again, this time slowly, deeply, and deliberately as he shook the point to add extra pain, laughing as Ridge grimaced and gritted his teeth, growling out meaningless sounds.

“Does it hurt, darling?” Trott simpered, a psychotic smile slithering onto his face.

“It-”

“Good.” He spat, turning his attention to Ridge's right forearm, dragging the sharp tip along the precious vein which were so vulnerable and he stabbed into his arm, missing any vital parts that might speed up Ridge's death.

“Do what you want, you won't kill me.” Ridge sputtered, his hands clenching as Trott dug the screwdriver further into his arm.

“You're right, I'm not going to kill you.” Trott purred, “I need you too much.” Trott then traced Ridge's jaw with his fingers, examining the pale skin as if depended on it, but he was just steadying himself. “If I'm being honest, I don't fully know what I want to do. How about you decide, go on Ridge, what do you want me to do to you?”

“Let me go.” Ridge pleaded, his voice cold but tired.

“Not happening.”

“Then we'll just sit here until- no not the-” But Ridge stopped talking as Trott held one of the three needles in his hand.

“Trypanophobia, the fear of needles. I'm not going to hurt you with the liquid though, we don't really need it. I want you to feel every single drop of pain you can.” Trott cooed, pushing the liquid out then he brought the needle back up to eye level.

Trott felt himself laughing as he stabbed the needle into Ridge's left eye, relishing in the scream as Ridge shook beneath him, the blood that poured out caressed Trott's hand like rose petals, so beautiful but deadly poisonous, and he left the needle stuff in Ridge's eye. The man himself was shaking his head desperately as he shrieked, his head hanging down as the needle fell from his eye. Trott just stood, watching him and the blood that dripped from Ridge, gulping down his excitement as he shuddered at the sight.

“You-you're a psycho!” Ridge snarled, gasping in pure _pain_ with each movement.

“Don't you know it honey, but I'm not done with you. I'm still bored.” Trott smirked. “You look so lovely with your blood outside your body, you know? So lovely. It's a shame your face ruins it, in fact, I can fix that.”

And without a moment’s hesitation Trott grabbed the serrated knife then forced the knife into Ridge's mouth, cutting from his lips into his cheeks, his heart racing in his chest as Ridge screamed, a perfect curve forming from the corners of Ridge's mouth to his cheek. The roar in Trott's ears was deafened by Ridge's growls, his agony, and Trott found laughter bubbling to his lips as he did the same to the other side, grabbing Ridge's jaw as the man tried to move away which resulted in even more blood spilling onto Trott's hands, rivers of bittersweet ruby gore trailing down his arms.

“Does it hurt, sunshine?” Trott sneered, he could see Ridge's eyes, unfocused and dazed. “Hmm, you're really not staying for long are you?”

“Fuck. You.” Ridge spat, his eyes swollen and puffy red locking with Trott's.

“Time to say goodbye.” Trott purred. “In fact, before you do leave, let me tell you something. Ross got me this especially, this knife.” Trott lifted the sapphire knife, blood already tainting the handle. “It's a Portuguese cut at the base, shield on the length, and look how it glitters. It reminds me of his eyes, his pretty blue eyes...”

“Sapphire?”

“Yes. Pure silver hilt. Let’s see how good it cuts, shall we?” And before Ridge had the time to answer Trott had sunk the blade into Ridge's stomach, easily gliding past muscle and he pulled it out again, stabbing again and again as Ridge's cries serenaded his movements until he could feel Ridge start to fall limp.

“Last blow babe, I'll assume you've thanked me for the show.” Trott said with a bow as he grabbed the sledgehammer and swung at Ridge's head.

 

With a loud splatter blood gushed from Ridge's face and the contact left Trott reeling as he heard a satisfying crack and he saw a few pieces of Ridge's brain fly to the grimy wall opposite him. As his heart slowed down he assessed the corpse in the chair and laughed. Trott knew right from wrong, he knew what he did would leave some scars and a small drop of guilt seeped into his system, but seeing the man who had threatened Trott's lover dead, it made Trott gleeful as he sat back in the chair he started in, caked in Ridge's blood. The sledgehammer dropped unceremoniously beside him and Trott just sat there for a while, eyes closed as he felt the rage and the passion leave him. Describing it was hard, but he only ever felt like he did when someone he loved was in danger. He hadn't gotten any answers, but that was only a bonus if anything.

Getting rid of the body was easy, he could just cut it up and add it to fish chum by the docks, no-one knew of this place except himself, Ross and Smith and even then Trott didn't expect them to remember the route fully, all he had to do was clean himself up.

“Even in your death, Ridge, your blood stains and rots everything like a scarlet mess.” It was a side to him that Ross and Smith should never have known about, but Ross knew Trott had already killed someone and Smith knew that Trott was their...negotiator. Trott piled up his equipment, bagging it up. He also slid the knife back into his pocket, he was already bloody so what harm would it do? The second thing he did was bag up Ridge's body with a spare bag he had brought in then he climbed the steps out of the room.

“Trott.” Smith said. He was sat on the hood of the car, Ross leaning on it next to him.

“We'll chum him body as usual Smith.” Trott said, watching as Smith went down into the room.

“Ross, I-”

“Don't worry, Smith's explained everything.” Ross smiled, moving from the car to press a soft kiss against Trott's hair. Trott felt himself warm up as Ross laughed, smiling in confusion at him. “It's just, I would give you hug too but I'm happy to stay blood free mate.”

“Oh, yeah, that's a problem. I brought extra clothes with me, could you get them from the back seat?”

“Sure.” Ross said. He passed Trott his clothes and went back to leaning on the car hood, watching as Trott got undressed.

“This, this is a sight to behold.” Ross smiled, and Trott felt his cheeks heat up.

“I'm getting changed Ross, be respectful.” He said reproachfully, but he grinned anyway.

“Oh look, Trotty's getting his dick out!” Smith shouted from the doorway of the room, a body bag slung over his shoulder.

“Smith! I'm-”

“I'll put your stuff in the boot too, I'm not getting blood on the leather again.” Smith said, his head disappearing behind the boot as it opened.

“Again?” Ross asked, raising an eyebrow at Trott who shifted guiltily as a cheeky grin spread on his face.

“Well, there's a first time for everything right? Can't always be perfect from the start.”

“Yeah, I get you on that one.” Ross said, and Trott wondered if he was talking about the first time he killed someone.

“C'mon you two, we do have a body in our boot that we need to get rid of.” Smith warned, slamming the boot shut.

“God, you ruin my fun all the time!” Trott whined as he finished pulling a plain clean shirt on.

“Yeah Smith, let him have his fun!” Ross joined in, pushing Smith a little as he walked to the passenger side.

“We can have fun later-”

“If you know what he means.” Ross laughed, turning to look at Trott who lounged in the back.

“More killing?”

“You truly are sadistic mate.” Smith said with a smile as he started driving.

“Don't say you don't find it sexy.” Trott said, lowering his voice while he waggled his eyebrows at Ross.

“I find it to be a great turn on Trott, but we have a literal dead body in our car which kinda freaks me a little.” Smith said, but he smiled anyway. “Bodies, eww, I'd rather just watch them burn instead. Lot less blood.”

“You can burn anything you want mate.” Trott said, looking at Ross whose face lit up.

“Like, a mansion perhaps?” Ross suggested, turning back to face forwards.

“Oh my god. Yes.” Smith gasped, a grin on his face.

As Trott zoned out he watched his two boyfriends chat and felt a rush of warmth and love inside himself. All three of them had some sort of twisted view and love for pain, and Trott absolutely loved it.

 

\-------------------

 

“With Ridge out of the way this operation is gonna be even more difficult, but not impossible. Before we torch Ridge’s mansion we need to get some contacts, find out if he has anything vital we need, plans, that sort of stuff.” Ross said, watching Trott carefully as they walked into the house and Trott split off the go upstairs.

“I wonder if we could make the flames different colours…” Smith pondered, flicking the lighter that Trott had returned to him, gazing into the flame as it clicked on and off.

“Might be too much mate, we need to be quick.” Ross said, feeling a little sad as Smith’s smile turned into one of consideration.

“Yeah. I see what you’re saying. We’ll just wait for Trott, maybe eat something, then go?”

“No, I think we need to go at night. Plus we get a little rest, I’m worried about his reaction to killing someone.”

“It doesn’t hit him too hard though.”

“Which is what I’m worried about, has he always been like that after killing someone?”

“Well, not the first time. He wouldn’t talk to me for 3 days and apologised so much for killing the guy who tried to kill me, he was a wreck.” Smith said thoughtfully.

“Most people, after killing someone, would feel some sort of remorse or you know, psychological distress?” Ross offered, leaning down to rest in Smith's lap as they sat on the sofa.

“Did you the first time you killed someone?”

“I would be lying if I said no, but I don't think it ever fully hit me until a few days later when I saw the family of...I can't even remember who it was, it's been so long. I don't anymore though, I'm kinda numb to it now.”

“Then I guess it's the same for Trott. And maybe me too, I've willingly burnt buildings down knowing full well there were people inside.” Smith said, closing his eyes while his fingers trailed through Ross's hair in gentle circular motions. “I try not to dwell on it, but you can never fully escape the knowledge that you took someone else's life.”

“Having a true reason helps though, knowing that you made the world better by taking out someone who was going to make it worse, right?”

“I don't know. Does it make you a monster to do that?”

“Well, no. No one is a monster, take Hitler for example. He was a vegetarian, he stabilised the German economy and eliminated their national debt, he almost eliminated crime fully, and though he did influence the killing of 6 million Jews, homosexuals, brown and black people, he created containment camps, not death camps.” Ross said. “I'm not condoning what he did, not in a million years, I'm just saying he tried to do the best for his country in a really shitty way.”

“So, in a way, we're similar to Hitler?” Smith snorted, “Great analogy. I get what you mean though, strangely enough. I hope we don't hurt too many people in what we're doing though, taking down the Overlookers. It's not like they're killing millions of people, but they're controlling people which is just as bad in my books.”

Ross just hummed in reply and let Smith's fingers in his hair pull his eyelids down. At some point Trott joined them, his hair damp but warm as he crawled to lie with Ross, his head resting on Ross's chest. The three dozed the rest of the day away, waiting for the night to fall and the sun to be replaced with glittering stars. They drove without their car's lights on, dark clothing merging them into the night as they vaulted over the perfect marble walls; Ross and Smith easily climbing over while Trott had to wait for them to pull him up, much to his annoyance as they jeered at his height while he flushed and flipped them off.

“There's a back entrance with doors made of glass, we can easily smash them. I'm also surprised Ridge didn't have 20 guards at each square foot of the wall.” Ross whispered, crouching with Smith and Trott by the wall.

“How long d'you think it'll take to get as much info as possible though? If it takes all night he might have scheduled meetings or something.” Smith said, “Do we run to the back or what?”

“I say we run, I don't see anyone.”

“Cameras mate.” Ross pointed out, only to have Smith say,

“We're torching the place, any evidence is gonna be destroyed.”

“What if he backs it up? Ah fuck it, let's just go.” Trott said, shaking his head as they got up.

The run across the dark mansion grounds felt like it took much more time than it did and as Trott slammed his gun to the glass of the large back doors time seemed to slow for just a second before the three were inside.

“Let's split, search for as much as we can. Use the walkie-talkies only if you're in trouble.” Ross ordered, turning his attention to going upstairs as Trott and Smith disappeared into different rooms on the ground floor. The first room Ross came to was a study. With it's brown mahogany wood Ross felt a little guilty for thinking about burning the place, but it had to be done. He lifted paintings from walls, moved carpets, the few chairs in there, tapped on all the walls to see if there was anything hollow behind them, and searched the desk thoughtfully. The only thing he found was a hidden compartment in one of the drawers which hid a leather bound book. Flitting quickly through the book Ross found it had a few contacts in, not enough to be a personal phone book, and a few paragraphs of written information. He slipped it into his backpack and moved onto the next room.

By the middle of the night the only thing Ross had found was that little book and a safe (which he had tried and failed to crack) so he walked into the foyer and told Smith and Trott to meet up with him via the walkie-talkies.

“Found anything useful?” Ross asked Trott who came first from one of the many hallways.

“Yeah, a book with tons of contacts, a list of people in another which could be useful, and lots of blue prints for something. We'll go over it later though. Also, lots of weapons in an armoured room which wasn't hidden at all.”

“Nice Trotty, but I have something even better.” Smith called from the balcony of the second floor. He slid down the curving banisters as Ross rolled his eyes and Trott shouted that Smith would hurt himself to which Smith just laughed at.

“I found this.” He said, and held out a key.

“That's....that's just a key Smith.” Ross said blankly.

“Yeah, but come and see what it opened!” Smith said, running back up the stairs as Trott and Ross chased after him.

When the three walked into yet another bedroom both Trott and Ross gasped as half of a wall of the room was open, opposite the bed.

“I found the key pushed into that drawer,” Smith jerked his thumb the bedside table, “but when I tried to pull it out it was kinda jammed. It didn't it properly so I checked the room again for any keyholes, pulled the wallpaper away because it was lifting from the wall here,” and Smith pointed to a small part of the wall, “there's the hole, the wall slid away and look. At. This.”

The darkish hole of the wall slid back as Smith pushed it to the side and illuminated by a clinical white glow was a room full of labelled crates that held: C4, Grenade launchers and ammo, RPGs, Homing launchers, Sticky bombs, Grenades, Molotovs, Tear Gas canisters, and Proximity mines.

“I'm glad we brought your Flatbed, Ross, how much do you reckon we could take?” Smith asked, his eyes lighting up as he took in all the explosives.

“Honestly? All of them. And we might still have space for the guns Trott found. Open the gates and I'll pull it up to the door so we can start loading it.”

“Sure.”

Then Ross jogged back out to the where he had climbed the wall, and jumped into the truck. When he got it around the gates were open and there were already some crates on the doorstep. Smiling to himself, he cut the engine and started piling up the crates neatly on the back. They weren't as heavy as he was expecting them to be, but they still carried some weight.

“Want some help Ross?” Smith asked putting down the crate that held the stickies.

“Yeah, wanna swap jobs for a bit?”

“Of course. You got something to cover this with?”

“Err...no, I have bungee cords to strap it all down but we can just grab some sheets or something.” Ross said, then he went back up to the room. There was only one crate left, the grenades. As an after though Ross grabbed some of them and placed them on the floor as he went down the stairs with the crate, careful so he didn't set anything off by accident, one explosion was enough for his lifetime.

“That's the last of the guns.” Ross heard Trott say so he called out,

“This is the last crate of the explosives.”

“I got a sheet too, lets finish this mates.” Smith said happily as Ross helped him with the sheet.

Trott and Ross drove the Flatbed to the gates and watched as Smith trailed a jerry can behind him from the porch while he strolled a good distance away. The wood inside the foyer would get the blaze started and the grenades Ross had scattered around would make sure the blaze was a good one.

Smith leant down and lit the trail of petrol light, moving back as Trott and Ross joined him to sit on the lip of the fountain. The blaze seemed to disappear completely, then flare up all at once. The rising flames licked at the open doorway and blistered the marble, soot already lining the edge as the dancing fire curled upwards to the second level. Choking black clouds from the inferno reached to the sky as the fire spread out, then a scorching force of heat pushed against the three as some of the grenades exploded and forced debris to the ground and ash high into the sky which floated down like flakes against the glowing reds and scaling oranges that illuminated the jet black sky with twirling grace.

For some time the three stayed quiet, watching the blaze with mild amusement on Ross's behalf, solemn interest on Trott's, and fiery enthusiasm from Smith.

“We should get going before this attracts attention.” Ross murmured, sad to see the beaming smile on Smith's face fall a little, but getting caught was too much to risk.

“Yeah...” Smith breathed, standing to glance once more at the dancing flames before he walked with Trott and Ross, holding their hands, back to the truck.

In his pocket Ross felt his phone vibrate, and checking it showed a short message.

“Hey, I got a text from Sips.” Ross started, “But it's just an address. Meet in 1 hour.”

“Where is it?”

“Americano Way, Richman. Near the golf course.”

“Hmm... Trott get your sat nav out and set me a destination, tell him we can be there in...”

“Sat nav says about we're about half an hour away.” Trott supplied, fastening his seatbelt. He rolled his eyes s Ross completely ignored putting his own belt on, so Trott did it for him.

“Okay, no problem.” Ross said, tapping it out to Sips.

“It's such an amazing sight. Shame we have to leave so early.” Smith said as he turned the truck around carefully.

“Don't worry about that, we can burn much bigger things than a mansion.” Trott said, watching the flames for a second or so then he turned back to resting against Ross.

“Yeah, but will they be as pretty?”

“He has a point Trott, the marble is amazing.”

“I promise you that the buildings you burn will be prettier than me.” Trott said with a smile.

“Not gonna happen mate, as much as you have a tiny dick-”

“Tiny, tiny penis-” Ross stage whispered.

“You and Ross are the prettiest things in my life.” Smith said, his voice warming up Trott and Ross's hearts.

“Oh don't, you're making me blush.” Trott simpered, holding a hand to his cheek while he pulled a double chinned face, rolling his eyes out of view.

“That is so disturbing.” Ross remarked. Though he wasn't surprised at the face he certainly was scared by it. Trott's laugh caught Ross from his thoughts, his eyes crinkling as he grinned.

“I hope it's something important, I'm only vaguely aware of where we're going.” Smith said. But he got no reply. “Guys?” When Smith looked back he saw Trott and Ross glued together. “Ah, leave me out of the fun. Oh, you're moving a hand to – _oh_ , I'll leave you two to it then.” Smith laughed, his heart skipping when he heard Ross moan. He'd get his own back later anyway.

As Smith drove to the place Ross had been texted he saw a huge sprawling mansion, bigger than Ridge's, but it didn't quite have the grandeur.

“Hey, we're here, you can stop sucking each other off now.” Smith teased, chuckling as Trott sat up with flushed cheeks and Ross reached out to pull him back down. “Uh, seriously guys, I can see Sips and Sjin in front of a fucking _huge_ mansion.”

“Oh, heh, ahem...we're-”

“I'm gonna fuck you so hard tonight, just you wait.” Ross purred, sitting up as Trott moved from his lap and buttoned his shirt back up.

“I think you'll find-” Smith began, but Trott shushed them and waved to Sips and Sjin who waved back.

“Hey guys, how's it going?” Sjin called, stepping forwards. “We thought, hey, weed a big place to conduct our operation from, so why not here?”

“It's big, I'll give it that.”

“Also, there's something we have to tell you.” Sips said, his smile falling. He motioned to go inside and Sjin walked closely next to him, their shoulders brushing. The three followed Sips and Sjin in silence, sitting down in a large and ornately decorated room with high windows and vintage furniture.

“I don't know if you've seen the news lately but...Ridge's mansion caught fire.” Sips said solemnly. Sjin then continued,

“They found a body as well.”

Ross kept his face calm, as did Trott and Smith, but inside he was utterly confused. Did that mean someone else was there?

“Though we don't have any DNA confirmation that it really is Ridge, he was the only one that lived there so authorities have released that it is in fact Ridge who has...died.” Sjin finished, swallowing hard and Sips rubbed Sjin's arm reassuringly.

“I...Ridge can't have...” Trott mumbled, trailing off.

“We can't let him die in vain though.” Sips said, “We have to continue what he started which means we need the next best guy. Ross.”

“I'm-I mean, I can't possibly...I have no idea how to arrange things. I've taken part in heists, yeah, but nothing on this scale!” Ross protested, his mind still reeling from the body.

“You have to! You can find people, you can help us! We can get you money if you need it, take out people when they need taking out! If even so much as one Overlooker finds out about this, we are all dead.” Sjin exclaimed, his face crumpling in anger and frustration.

“Look, Ross, it's you or death. Simple as.” Sips said.

With a sigh and not much thought into it, Ross nodded.

“Right, we need to get people in on this job, Ridge said he had a list but it's obvious that it doesn't exist anymore.” Smith said.

“But we can try.” Trott said. “Also, I don't know if you noticed, but we have a shipment that just arrived. We'll have to go through it all of course, but if you have a place to store it all that would be amazing.”

“Oh, we do, there's an enormous basement underneath this place.” Sips said. “We'll let you get off, you did seem kinda busy-”

“What he means,” Sjin laughed, “Is that the quicker we get things done the higher the chance of us surviving is.” And he got up, pulling Sips with him.

“We'll see you soon!” Sips called, waving them off as they jogged to their truck with help from the porch light.

“See you soon!”

For the rest of the journey Ross couldn't keep his hands from slipping up Trott's shirt or tugging his jeans down a tiny bit each time he brushed his fingers on Trott's hips and as Smith pushed them inside Ross pinned Trott against a wall, pushing their hips together.

“I'm gonna-” Ross slid down to suck on Chris's neck, “fuck you-” Alex slid his hand down into Ross's boxers, “ _so_ hard-fuck-” Chris hooked up a leg onto Ross waist, his fingers curling in Ross's hair.

“I think you'll find,” Chris murmured sultrily on Ross's lips, “you're gonna be the one getting fucked tonight, sunshine.”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, for those who don't know I don't exactly ship the ships I used to anymore. However, I have some updates that I was keeping in a folder, and I will finish this story to the best of my ability. Also, a few people have contacted me about including Ridgedog in this fiction, and I do agree, it's not the best thing. As soon as I can, I will be changing his character to Tom/Angor (though he may be a little ooc). Again, I apologise for not making these changes soon, I promise I will sort it out. (However, if after this chapter you're happy he died...that's up to a vote.)
> 
> Sorry that this is such a long note, but I would really love to thank everyone who left a kudos, a comment, everyone who bookmarked this and even subscribed. It means so much to me that you're interested in the words I have to share. Thank you~


	9. Such is "Fate"

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I have no words for this feeling I have. I feel like I'm tearing apart at the seams. I feel like reality is slipping from my grasp. I can't lose them. I can't lose Alex. I can't lose Chris.
> 
> I. Won't.

“Okay, let's divide the list. I'll call...let's see...” Ross said, looking over the list he and Trott had compiled from Ridge's book.  
“Here, you take Will, Sam, Benji, and Zoey.” Trott said, highlighting the names in blue so Ross could tick them off.  
“I'll call Leo, Turps, Sparkles, and I'll call Lewis too.” Smith said, highlighting the names in green.  
“I'll get onto Martyn, Simon, and Parv.” Trott finished, highlighting the last names in red.  
“Okay, let's see how many we can get. Remember, arrange the date for tomorrow.” Ross smiled, noting down the numbers and sitting at the table. Trott went upstairs and Smith took the front room.  
The first number on the list, of course, was Will. The tone rang twice before he picked up.  
“Hello?”  
“Hi, is that Will speaking?”  
“How the hell did you get this number?” Will's voice demanded.  
“Let me explain-”  
“Oh you better get talking-”  
“Ridge has died, did you see in the news?”  
“Yeah...go on.”  
“Well, my name is Ross and I, Ridge, and two other people were organising an event.” Ross hoped Will would understand what he meant by event, for all Ross knew The Overlookers could be listening to phone calls.  
“Hmm. And you need my assistance.”  
“Yes. Could you maybe, meet up with us?”  
“I guess I could, where would that be?”  
“The mansion at Americano Way, Richman. Near the golf course.”  
“Got it, any specific date?”  
“Will tomorrow do?”  
“Yeah, tomorrow is good.”  
“Oh, also, Ridge had a list of people he wanted to hire so some, hopefully all, should be there too.”  
“Thanks for the heads up, Ross. See you soon.” Will said. His voice was almost monotonous but it had its charms. Ross ticked Will's name and moved onto Sam.  
By the end of his list Ross had managed to get every person to visit the mansion, whether masked or not, they were still coming which was a good thing.  
“Martyn refused but everyone else who I called is coming. I still got one person to do.” Trott said as they all sat back at the kitchen table.  
“Everyone from my list is coming too.” Smith added, grinning a little as he twirled the pen he had between his fingers. “Must be my charm.”  
“You have no charm what so ever.” Trott said indignantly, swatting Smith's pen from his hands.  
“You say that but I doubt you’d think that tonight mate.” Smith said with a wink, pulling Trott chair out with a leg while he jumped up to straddle Trott's hips. Ross watched as Trott's face flushed, his fingers playing with the fabric at Smith's hips while his eyes were trained on Smith who pressed his and Trott's heads together so their noses brushed.  
“I'll make the last call.” Ross smiled, walking out as the two started kissing slowly. Maybe he'd even join once he'd finished with the last guy.

Outside the mansion a white Zion with tinted windows caps pulled up and parked just before the round garden by the entrance. From the passenger side stepped a woman with chocolate curls, flowing around her shoulder and cascading down her back. She closed the door and leant back on the car, black heel balanced on the wheel while she reclined and waited. Her eyes were blocked by shades but her crimson lips were pulled into an easy smile. She had black jeans on and a black quilted zipped up leather jacket, a complete contrast to her partner.  
The other woman locked the car and walked around it. Her whimsical blonde hair floated down her chest and caressed her face, her soft coffee bronze eyes twinkling. Her ivory dress was corseted, flowing from her waist to just above her knees like a weightless cloud and she was smaller than her partner even though she wore white wedges.  
They joined hands, the taller one pecking a kiss to the other's cheek, resulting in a rosy blush from the other, then they walked to the mansion doors. Ross stood in the doorway to the front room, watching as they walked inside the parlour greeting everyone. There was an air of superiority to them; they weren't threatening or intimidating but Ross knew instantly where he stood with them.  
“Ross, this is Zoey and Fiona.” Sips said, and Ross shook hands with them.  
“Thank you for being here.”  
“Oh, no worries. We did owe Ridge a favour, this would be the only respectful way to repay him now.” Zoey said with a sad smile.  
“Besides, we get to take some arseholes down a peg.” Fiona said, grinning as Zoey rolled her eyes.  
“That's the spirit.” Sips said, coming over with Sjin. “We have to figure out a sort of plan, but I think we should wait for everyone else to arrive.”  
“Until then we have drinks and such in the front room.” Sjin smiled, walking with them both and Sips inside the room.  
“I guess we wait here and direct people then.” Smith sighed, leaning back on a small table.  
“We won't have to wait long, I can already see someone driving here now.” Ross pointed out, pulling Smith up to face the open doors. He had a forced smile on his face but when Trott brushed their arms together subtly his smile was as natural as breathing.

“Okay, everyone is now here. I assume you've all had the chance to talk?” Ross asked, pausing a second at the muttering of agreement, then he carried on. “As we all know, Ridge isn't with us anymore.”  
“We need to find out who did this.”  
“We need our payback.”  
“In time guys, all in good time. I think, no, I know that whatever Ridge was doing it was A) connected to the Overlookers, and B) something more serious than what he usually used to do.”  
“The best thing we can do is take those fuckers down. I can cargo bob us in.” Sparkles suggested, fist bumping Kogie on his left.  
“No, too rash.” Zoey said, “I think we should make it an inside job, Spies, a quick murder, lay low so no one knows it's us.” At her side, Fiona nodded.  
“Too risky, there's always a chance we'll be found out. Instead we should create a distraction and send up a team to take out the head bosses and pick everyone else off.” Sjin said with a confident smile.  
“We'll never know if the team's good enough. What we're dealing with is pretty big, ya know. Let's get an underground base set up under their tower, go in without setting of any alarms, wait till the boss arrives then take them down.” Simon suggested with a twinkle in his eye.  
“Yeah, it's only the boss, everyone else is vulnerable without them.”  
“There all very good ideas but-” Ross interjected, but Leo spoke up over him.  
“No underground bases Simon, too much noise. Digging, remember?”  
“Who says and underground base isn't a good idea?”  
“Actually-” Ross tried, getting cut off by Will.  
“I could help set up a distraction with Sips and Sjin to get them all out of the building.”  
“Then what? We really can't murder the boss in broad daylight.”  
“We don't even know what the boss looks like.” Fiona sighed.  
“Guys!” Ross half shouted. “You aren't getting it. We don't need separate plans, we don't need ones we've individually used before, what we need to do is work as a team.” Ross explained. “I propose this...”

After a few hours of divvying tasks, arranging equipment, going over the plan more times than was necessary, Ross knew they could do this.  
“Okay, one more time. Ground team, that's Zoey, Fiona, Turps and Smith. You section off the street, block cars, get people out of there. Create blockades, no police get past.”  
“Got it.” Fiona said, smirking at Turps and Smith who grinned at each other.  
“Sky team, Sparkles, Leo and Kogie, keep swat teams out, shoot down any jets or choppers that you see that aren't ours.”  
“On it.” Sparkles said, walking away to making reservations on his phone.  
“Will, Sips, Sjin. You need to scramble all connections in and out of the tower. Any other connections in the area if possible. Cut off electricity, maybe some explosions in other parts of the city to draw some cops away and relieve pressure.”  
“Easy enough.” Will said simply. “I'll split though, Sips and Sjin need to be in the field, not behind a computer screen.” Ross nodded his confirmation.  
“Evasion team then, Sips and Sjin that’s you both. Base team, Simon, Strippin, Benji and Trott. You'll accompany Level team, that's Parv, Nilesy, Hannah and myself. Once in we take out anyone we see.”  
“I can start that on level 37 once I hear explosions.” Hannah suggested, Ross nodding to confirm it.  
“Same with me on level 46.” Nilesy added.  
“If everything goes to plan we should have no casualties whatsoever.” Ross said, then he had an idea. “Hannah?”  
“Yeah?”  
“Do you think if Lewis made up a potent drug you could slip it...” But her icy glare silenced his words.  
“Lewis is not getting involved in this. I'm not losing him, ever.”  
“Okay. Sorry I suggested it.” Ross said, truly apologetically.  
“It's fine.”  
“Okay, so tomorrow we wake and meet in this room at 10 AM. Have all vehicles, weapons, ammo, team communications and any other equipment you may need ready.” The room muttered in agreement, some nodding some whooping. “We'll see you tomorrow.” Ross dismissed, turning to go to the room he shared with Trott and Smith, a headache already blossoming in his temples.  
He noticed that Smith followed him whereas Trott stayed, talking animatedly with Turps and Sips who joined them  
“You okay?”  
“I'm fine I just- It's a big thing, to be in charge of people's lives, ya know?” Ross sighed, pushing open the door to their room.  
“You've worked hard to get this all set up and running, faster than Ridge ever could.” Smith said, pulling Ross to the sofa. Ross just sighed and smiled, catching Smith's hand in his own.

 

“Oi, you two, wake up.” Trott's voice called out, harsh in the once peaceful silence. Ross groaned, rolling over only to nearly roll onto Trott.  
“Hmm?”  
“You two, up. Heist day, remember?”  
“I don't think Ross does.” Smith smiled, then he leaned down so his teeth grazed Ross's ear. “Told you I'd give you the fuck of your life.”  
Ross could feel his face heat up and he mumbled a half-hearted “shut up.” as he sat up and stretched, a small ache still in his lower half.  
“Time is it Trotty?” Smith yawned, getting up with Ross, slipping their hands together.  
“8. Time enough for you two to shower, time enough for me to get our stuff ready. We really should have done that yesterday but...”  
“You missed out on the fun Scrotty.”  
“Smith?” Ross called, rolling his eyes as Trott threw a pillow at Smith.  
“We can have a celebratory threesome Trott. I'm coming Ross.”  
“Uh uh, you take the other shower.”  
“Aww, but Ross-”  
“Yeah, I'll have the next shower with Ross.” Trott sang, sticking his tongue out at Smith which Ross couldn't help but laugh at. “Don't be too long, my love!” Trott laughed, blowing a kiss to Ross.  
“As with you, my dear one.” Ross replied, blowing a kiss back. Smith just flipped them both off and walked out of the room, likewise with Trott.  
Ross picked up a towel from the drying cupboard and set it on the rail before he turned the shower on. The warm rivulets of water weren't as comforting as he had hoped they would be so he washed quickly, ignoring the alien feeling of impending nothingness in his stomach. Part of him felt giddy, part of him felt sick, and as he dressed he found himself just staring in the mirror at his eyes, his face. He looked healthy (as much as his pale self could), but the worried look on his face reminded him of the task at hand. A quick glance at the clock showed it was only 8:25 but Ross went downstairs anyway. The mansion was eerily empty and the only sound was the ticking of a grandfather clock and the boiling of the kettle. Ross decided he would eat later, if his nerves settled down at least.  
It was strange to be leading people, potentially to their deaths, and not just following someone else's orders. Pushing the thought from his mind, Ross decided he didn't want anything to drink at all and instead went outside. He didn't lock the door behind him, there was no need to. Sitting in his car made him feel even shakier than before but now Ross couldn't put it down to nerves or not eating.  
The drive to Bebop's was a short one, many times Ross had completely ignored the speed limit, instead opting to go as fast as his shaking feet would let him.  
“Bebop?”  
“Hi, Ross, how's it going.”  
“Not good. I need, in your opinion, the best handgun, gun, melee weapon and grenades for close combat.”  
“Ah. A job, you need say no more.”

“Communications, online?” Ross asked into his walkie-talkie, Parv by his left, ground team on his right.  
“Yes. Checking comms with other teams.” Will replied, his voice riddled with static.  
“Communications to ground team?”  
“Good.”  
“Sky team.”  
“Good!”  
“Base team?”  
“All clear.”  
“And level team is clear too.” Ross finished.  
“Okay, snyc watches to 10:45...now.” Sips instructed, Ross doing so as did everyone around him. “Compasses on watches should be in working order.”  
“Is everyone ready?” Will asked.  
“Ground is ready.” Fiona spoke.  
“Sky is ready!” Kogie shouted, making Ross pull away from the loudest noise he had heard from the intercom yet.  
“Base is ready.” Strippin said, holding the walkie-talkie for his team.  
“Level is ready.” Parv said, nodding with Ross.  
“Okay.” Will said, “I'm going to start scrambling police intercoms within 50 miles in 3 minutes. Evasion team start distraction procedures 1 minute to scrambling.”  
“Copy that.”  
“Half a minute after, ground team put up blockades. I'll be shutting off electricity at the same time, base that's when base and level team go into the building.”  
“Copy.”  
“Got it.”  
“Okay, in 3...2...1.”  
Ross waited with baited breath, his heart thumping in his chest. A sudden explosion from east of their position made Ross jump. Trott, who had moved beside him, rubbed Ross's arm reassuringly.  
“We all trust you Ross. Be safe.” Then Trott pecked his cheek and moved back to his team, talking their strategy again.  
“So. You and Trott eh?” Parv smirked, his smirk growing into a grin as Ross blushed.  
“Fuck off Parv.”  
“Personally I thought I was you and Smith.” At this Ross knew his face grew and even brighter shade of red – he could see it as Parv's eyes bugged.  
“Both of them? Greedy fucker.”  
“Time Parv.” Ross huffed, irritated as Parv just laughed. Ross watched as he saw ground team in the street, various vehicles driving in to block lanes. Ross saw Smith throw what he assumed was C4, then he smiled knowingly as people fled from the expected explosion.  
“Base team, level team, electricity off.” Will's voice grounded Ross and his legs moved into action.  
Parv burst through the door first, covering the left as Ross covered the right. Base team then took over, pushing forwards and up a few levels as terrified civilians cowered behind translucent glass only to be shot dead as the team ran quickly up the building, clearing the way for Ross and Parv.  
“Level clear, move up, move up!”  
“Level 16 has been reached. Strippin relayed into the walkie-talkie.  
“Copy, street is clear.”  
“Two jets down baby! Fuck yeah!” Sparkles shouted, and Ross heard Kogie laughing in the background.  
“Make that three bitches!”  
“Distraction 4 is being set off now, most if not all units are surrounding different buildings.” Sips drawled. Ross knew that Sips and Sjin were in a flat detonation explosives remotely. On queue another explosion rocked the city, big enough for Ross to feel the floor shake.  
“Floor 37 is clear, I can start moving up.” Hannah said, for the first time, across comms.  
“On floor 46 everyone is talking about the other explosions, no one as far as I can tell is panicked. News of lower levels isn't spreading.” Nilesy whispered, his voice barely intelligible over the static.  
“Copy.” Ross said. “Although, if jets are circling-”  
“Not anymore! We're leading them to the explosions to stave off suspicion.”  
“Good idea. I'm fighting for connections guys, we need to make this a little bit quicker.” Will said, a hint of panic in his voice.  
“Level 30 has been reached.” Strippin said, “Level 37 shouldn't be far now.”  
“Starting to hear gunfire on level 38, careful guys.” Hannah warned.  
“Hand guns, head shots, guys.” Ross warned, “Level team moving up now.” He said, running beside Parv up the stairs.  
“Good, good, ground is starting to get attention though.” Fiona reported.  
“Sky's good for now! Circling back to patrol the tower.” Sparkles said, his voice nearly drowned out as Ross took out another two people, two head shots.  
“Level 39. Hannah, group when you can.” Ross said, moving through the eerily empty halls which were filled with dead civilians, various vital parts on their body slit. Hannah had gone for stealth, obviously.  
“Here.” Hannah called, making Ross jump slightly. “I changed into something more appropriate.”  
“Good.” Ross said, “Nilesy, Level status?”  
“46, 7 and 8 clear.”  
“Okay. Teams?” Ross asked, following base team.  
“Sky is good!”  
“Ground is struggling, ground swats are rolling in, sky won’t be soon.”  
“Base is on level 45 now, level team hurry it up.”  
“Just got to thirty keep it up.” Ross said breathlessly, his legs starting to burn from the running.  
“49 now clear. Keeping position until level arrives.” Nilesy said.  
“Ground has been breached, moving back!” Fiona shouted, “Sky, ground support needed!”  
“Copy, dropping explosives and shooting.” Sparkles said, Kogie shouting something in the background.  
“Base at level 49.”  
“Level at 47.” Ross said, then to Parv and Hannah, “We all good on level 52?” Nods confirmed it.  
“Base at 50, relation guns, might need some time.”  
“We don't have time. My connections shut down, police might be informed now. I'm trying to get our blocks back online. Evasion, status?”  
“All good, we're on our way to provide backup for ground.”  
“Thanks.” Fiona said, “Sky, on your left.”  
“We got it, we're dropping those swat chops onto their own people.”  
“Base has been hit! Simon has been hit!” Strippin shouted, at that moment Ross, Hannah and Parv got to Nilesy.  
“Level has grouped, moving up to help.” Ross copied, pulling out his sub-mahcine gun. There were shouts now and if the top two levels didn't know they certainly did now.  
“Level, move through 51, ignore and get the objective!” Strippin shouted. Benji was with Simon, Trott was advancing up the stairs with Stripping.  
“C'mon guys.”  
“Ground has been hit! I have no idea who's alive and who isn't there's too much smoke.” Fiona cried, her voice panicked. Ross's heart jumped – Smith was down there. He could handle himself of course but it hurt all the same.  
“Try and group up, evasion is on the west side. I repeat, evasion is on the west. Side.” Sjin said, voice calm but concentrated.  
“Sky in trouble, swats are getting hits!”  
“Police and fire comms are off again guys. Electricity is still off in the tower, the top level is secure and people on that level cannot leave. There's no elevator access, back up gens are off.” Will said, and Ross could hear the sigh of relief in his voice.  
“Sky has been hit, jumping!” Sparkles cried, and Ross breath stopped for a second before his team breached level 52.  
“Base, keep cops out.” Ross called, “be ready to base jump.”  
“Got it.” Strippin confirmed over the comms.  
Ross heard shots, dropping to cover behind a wall he looked in the reflection windows adjacent to him. 2 guys advancing. He jumped out, firing and dropping them, rolling behind a desk as 3 ran out into cover. Parv ran to him, then to his right, flanking him as Nilesy and Hannah took the left. All 3 guys dropped and it seemed they were the only defence. Ross stalked to the doors at the end of the hall, gunfire behind him as Hannah, Parv and Nilesy took out the remaining witnesses. Ross took a deep breath and kicked open the door before. Him.  
“Sir-AH!” Ross shot the woman beside the chair. She fell behind the desk and Ross aimed his run at the chair which span slowly.  
“Hello, Ross. Nice to see you.”  
"It can't be... you..." Reality blurred, everything was simultaneously meaningful and meaningless.

Because it all makes Sense.

Sense?

_Of course it does. Don't you see?_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Once again, this was written back in 2015 and isn't the greatest reflection of my writing, as I have since improved. However, you'll be somewhat happy to know that from this point, I am currently re-writing the "ending". It's more like a divergence, the "ending" is going to be similar, just getting to it is different. 
> 
> It's like the first iteration of this fiction was "A - 2 - C - 6"  
> But the new one is "6 - I - 6 - K - 32"


End file.
